5 takeaways from India's warm-up match against Essex

KL-Kohli-Karthik all fire

Has Rahul assured himself an opening slot for the first Test?

The three Ks in the batting unit- KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik, had the opposite unit to that of Dhawan and Pujara, amassing fifties for themselves in the first innings of the game.

Runs from Rahul's bat should provide confidence to the management, who could consider him to open with Murali Vijay in the first Test. There's no disputing that Kohli's blade will need to do a lot of talking in the series if India are to do well and Karthik's contribution of 82 runs in the first innings should also come as a boost as it could mean that they could go in with five specialist batsmen and five specialist bowlers if the need does arise for it in the future.