Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], November 24 (ANI): Ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, Team India hit the nets for an intense training session at the Green Park Stadium on Wednesday.

Stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane will lead the hosts in the first of the two-match Test series, starting Thursday. Team India's newly-appointed head coach Rahul Dravid was seen supervising the practice along with Paras Mhambrey and batting coach Vikram Rathour.

Skipper Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteswar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Prasidh Krishna were among those attending the training session.

Earlier, batter KL Rahul was ruled out of the upcoming 2-match Test series against New Zealand. He will now undergo rehabilitation at NCA in preparation for the series against South Africa scheduled next month. The All-India Senior Selection Committee had named Suryakumar Yadav as Rahul's replacement.

India will come into the Test series high on confidence after defeating the Kiwis in the three-match T20I series. But the only problem is the lack of form of key middle-order batters Pujara and Rahane. And in Rahul's absence, they will definitely need to rise to the challenge against a Kiwi outfit that was crowned World Test Champions a couple of months back.

India's Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna. (ANI)