India captain prepares extensively for first Ranji match in a decade [In Pictures]

India's Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma was seen training extensively ahead of Mumbai's upcoming Ranji Trophy clash against Jammu and Kashmir at home from January 23. The stalwart has made himself available for the upcoming round of the Ranji Trophy after a disastrous run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Sharma amassed just 31 runs in five innings in the series, which India lost 1-3 to hosts Australia. Following India's disastrous performance, the BCCI gave an unofficial diktat saying that all players who are not on national duty must prioritize domestic cricket and turn up for their respective states.

As a result, most centrally contracted players are playing in the upcoming round of the Ranji Trophy, including Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant and Sharma. Virat Kohli, who is ruled out with a neck sprain, has made himself available for the last match of the Ranji Trophy group stage.

Sharma, in the pictures, is seen batting in the nets at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Bandra-Kurla Complex. After warming up with a jog across the oval, he got down to facing both spinners and seamers before taking on gentle throwdowns to ease into the match, which begins on Thursday.

This will be Sharma's first Ranji match in a decade. He last played in the elite tournament back in the 2015-16 season against Uttar Pradesh. Interestingly, he scored a ton in that game (113) and was instrumental in helping his team to a draw.

You can see the pictures here:

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India prepare for the Champions Trophy after limited-overs series against England

India's next major assignment is the ICC Champions Trophy, which is slated to be held in February in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Prior to that, however, they play a limited-overs series against England at home.

India will take on the Three Lions in five T20Is and three ODIs, starting in Kolkata on January 22. They named the squad for the ODI leg of this series, as well as the Champions Trophy, recently.

The most notable exclusion in the Champions Trophy squad was seamer Mohammed Siraj. The Hyderabad pacer was overlooked in favor of Punjab's Arshdeep Singh, whom skipper Sharma considers to be handy with the old ball.