Opener Lokesh Rahul looked in good nick during the final training session ahead of the second and last T20I of the series against Australia at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

‘The Men in Blue’ are trailing 0-1 in the series after their three-wicket loss at the hands of the visitors in the first match in Visakhapatnam. India will hope for a series-saving win in Bengaluru and get back in form ahead of the five-match series against the Aussies.

Rahul — who will be playing in front of his home crowd if selected for the second T20I — looked in high spirits during a batting session and middled almost every delivery. Rahul will look to make the most of the limited opportunities to stake a claim for a place in India’s World Cup squad.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) uploaded a video of Rahul in full throttle and their social media post read: “Nice and compact! Local lad @klrahul11 looks all set to fire in the 2nd T20I against Australia #TeamIndia #INDvAUS.”

Nice and compact! Local lad @klrahul11 looks all set to fire in the 2nd T20I against Australia #TeamIndia #INDvAUS @Paytm pic.twitter.com/yChnFut2jV

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 26, 2019

After the defeat in the first T20I, skipper Virat Kohli said they are looking to give more chances to youngsters KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant looking ahead at the multi-national event in UK. Rahul made an impressive half-century (36-ball 50) on his comeback but Pant was needlessly run-out.

“We want to give Rahul and Rishabh more game-time. Rahul played a really good knock and we had a good partnership. Had we gone on, we could have got 150, which would have been a match-winning score on this pitch,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation.

First Published: Feb 27, 2019 10:33 IST