Virat Kohli faces Pakistan pace duo to prepare for Sydney Test

What's the story?

With India set to play Australia on Thursday for the fourth Test in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, skipper Virat Kohli was seen hitting the nets hard at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and to everyone's excitement, the batting heavyweight received some help from the other side of the border.

Salman Irshad and Haris Rauf - the Pakistani fast bowlers who are currently busy playing club cricket in Australia, helped Indian batsmen, including Kohli in the net session. The pace duo sweated it out to make sure their neighbors prepare well before they take the field tomorrow.

The background

After getting a 2-1 lead in series, India are looking forward to giving a win the series against the hosts in the final Test at the SCG. Earlier in the day, the tourists announced their 13-man squad, which included a few surprises as Ishant Sharma was dropped and Ravi Ashwin, whose fitness is under the scanner, was given a go.

Meanwhile, Kohli's men came out for the pre-match practice session in the afternoon to get things going.

The heart of the matter

Kohli, who owns a formidable record against arch-rivals Pakistan, is one of the most-loved Indian stars all over the world. Budding cricketers of every cricket playing nation dream to bowl to the batting legend, and today, two of the upcoming prodigies from Pakistan got this opportunity.

Both Salman and Haris are an exciting bunch of players and they have displayed much of that in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) while playing for Lahore Qalandars. The pace duo seemed extremely thrilled in nets while bowling to Kohli.

Here is the video clip of the session where both of them were seen bowling to Indian batsmen:

Two fast bowlers of Lahore Qalandars, Salman Irshad and Haris Rauf done with a net practice session with Indiam Team. Salman Irshad has given some deliveries to Indian Captain Virat Kohli.@TheRealPCB @thePSLt20 @lahoreqalandars #Australia pic.twitter.com/awLug6bc2t

— chowdri Ali Hamza (@iamalihamxa) January 2, 2019

What's next?

After going down in the second Test, India looked quite dominating at Melbourne, winning the match by 137 runs. Since they have retained the trophy, the visitors will be eyeing a series win of 3-1 at Sydney.