Photos: Virat Kohli-led India train for World Cup 2019 opener against South Africa

First Published Jun 4, 2019, 9:47 AM IST

Southampton: Indian players sweated it out at a training session on Monday (June 3) as they prepared for their ICC World Cup 2019 opening match against South Africa on June 5 in Southampton. Barring India all other teams have already played at the World Cup while Virat Kohli and his teammates make a late entry into the 10-team competition. As they trained at the Rose Bowl, it was not a good sign for the team’s relationship with the Indian journalists as they boycotted Monday’s media session. This was after none of the Indian players or from the support staff were willing to interact with the media. The team had sent net bowlers Deepak Chahar, Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed to face questions.

India captain Virat Kohli gestures as he walks on to the field at Rose Bowl in Southampton for a training session ahead of their World Cup 2019 opening match against South Africa on June 5

Kohli walks on the ground before taking part in a batting session

Kohli bats in the nets

Eyes on the ball

Kohli gives some tips on catching

Kohli is one of the fittest cricketers in the world

Kohli is banking on his 'two pillars' Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. The spin duo was pictured during training

MS Dhoni prepares to hit a big one as he bats in the nets

Chahal gets some batting practice. India will be hoping that Chahal's batting is not required at the World Cup 2019

Dhoni takes a catch using a baseball glove

Opening batsman Rohit Sharma bats in the nets. He and Shikhar Dhawan will have to provide good starts for India

Dhoni tosses the ball

Chahal and Dhoni do some stretching

Dhoni, in all likelihood is playing in his final World Cup. He will be aiming to bow out on a high

Dhoni the batsman will be significant for India's chances at the World Cup 2019