The Kohli-Rohit frame-worthy moment, IND's unique batting session: What unfolded in Centurion nets ahead of 1st SA Test

The cynosure of the session however was Rahul having his wicketkeeping drills under watchful eyes of Dravid.

For the first time in 35 days since that World Cup final disappointment in Ahmedabad, social media had footage of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma together. The two battle-hardened professionals had their training sessions upon reaching South Africa earlier this month, with the captain even participating in the three-day intra-squad game in Pretoria, which Kohli had missed due to a reported trip to London. But on Sunday, the Indian team, as a whole, had their first practice session together at the SuperSport Park in Centurion and the moment that eventually became the talk across social media was when Kohli and Rohit shared a hug right at the start of the training nets. Perhaps it was an indication of a partnership of helping India conquer the final frontier and ending India's 31-year jinx of not winning a Test series in South Africa.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were spotted at the Centurion nets on Sunday ahead of the 1st IND vs SA Test match

Rohit and Yashasvi were the first to enter the nets and took turns facing Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur for five deliveries each. It was during Rohit's first stint when Kohli walked in and had a brief chat with Dravid as he watched Rohit's batting. Rohit, who looked much more relaxed after returning from a month's break, put on the mentor's hat as he keenly followed Yashasvi Jaiswal's batting and had conversations with him over the shots he played and the changes he could implement. The youngster, who made his debut in the tour of West Indies earlier in the summer and smashed a record 157 in his debut innings, was also seen chatting with head coach Rahul Dravid after his training session.

Indian batters were also seen adapting to a unique training technique, which was even followed by the likes of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. According to Star Sports, the top-order batters, who spent nearly an hour at the nets, had the throwdown specialist work from the 18-yard space, perhaps to get acclimatised to the pace and bounce of the South African conditions.

KL Rahul confirmed as wicketkeeper

The cynosure of the session however was Rahul having his wicketkeeping drills under watchful eyes of Dravid. He was never the first-choice option for the role in this series after Ishan Kishan performed rather impressive in the West Indies series, scoring a fifty in a winning cause. But with the latter opting out of the two-match contest citing "personal reasons", Rahul got promoted. India did have more specialist wicketkeeping option in KS Bharat, who replaced Ishan in the squad, but Dravid confirmed on Sunday, in the pre-game presser, that Rahul would be keeping wickets in the opening Test.

“It's an exciting challenge. It's an opportunity for him to do something different. With Ishan unavailable, we had a couple of keepers to choose from. Rahul is very confident about giving it a go. We understand that he hasn't done that quite often (in longest format), but he has done it in fifty overs, and even that is tough,” Dravid said. “He has done a lot of keeping in the past five-six months. One of the things here is that there is more pace bowling than spin, which will ease him into the role. We will see how it goes. It is nice to have someone like him, someone who has the ability with the bat and keep."

At the SuperSport Park on Sunday, Bharat did not even bother donning the keeping gloves in the first hour. Later, the slip formation gave an even clearer indication where Rahul kept wickets and had Yashasvi and Gill for company.