Virat Kohli
File photo: Virat Kohli was back to 'nets' as he started preparations in Cape Town.IANS

It was back to cricket training for India captain Virat Kohli after his wedding with Anushka Sharma recently. Kohli and the Indian team trained in Cape Town ahead of their first Test against South Africa from January 5, 2018.

Kohli, who skipped the limited-overs series at home against Sri Lanka, was quickly back to middling the ball in the "nets".

He got married on December 11 in Italy and hosted two receptions in Delhi and Mumbai.

It will only be training sessions for India as they head into the opening Test without any warm-up matches. The only practice game which was scheduled was cancelled by India as they opted for "nets".

The new year poses a big challenge for Kohli and his men as they will play Tests abroad. They enjoyed a highly successful 2017 at home, dominating teams in Tests and limited-overs formats.

On Saturday (December 30), the official Twitter page of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a brief video of Kohli's batting practice. It was captioned, "Getting into the groove is #TeamIndia captain @imVkohli."

It also tweeted a picture of batsman Cheteshwar Pujara making his way to the ground flashing thumbs-up sign. ".@cheteshwar1 all set to hit the nets #TeamIndia," BCCI's Twitter handle wrote with Pujara's photo.

India have never won a Test series in South Africa and many experts have backed Kohli's men to create history in the three-match rubber.

Meanwhile, there were reports that left-hand opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan could miss the opening Test due to injury.

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