Virat Kohli is a fantastic player, England need to bowl their best ball to him often: Graham Thorpe

With India skipper Virat Kohli back in the squad, the majority of the buildup to the upcoming Test series against England has been around him.

Kohli had returned home after the first of the four-match Test series against Australia last month on paternity leave. Ahead of the four-match home Test series against England, which is a part of the ongoing World Test Championship, Kohli has rejoined the Indian team.

After having a dismal tour of England in 2014, the Indian captain has managed to turn table around and since then, Kohli has scored 655 runs against England at home in 2016-17 and 593 in England in 2018.

World No. 4 England are aware of how important it is to plan to keep Kohli under control at the crease as Joe Root and Co are preparing to face one of their toughest challenges in India in the longest format. In a virtual press conference on Thursday, England's batting coach Graham Thorpe said England will be looking to executing their plans against Kohli and bowl their best balls at him as often as possible as Kohli and the other batsmen as the hosts will try to cash in on their home conditions.

"We know that he is a fantastic player and he has shown that for many years now. Virat is in one of that batting orders which understands home conditions very well. The key for our bowling attack will be to bowl our 'best ball' as often as we can. I don't think we can ask for anything more from our spinners and seamers. We need to have runs on the board and then having the Indian batting order under pressure will really be the key for us. To take the game deep will be an important aspect for England," Thorpe said.

England's batting coach also stated that India's bowling attack is not just about their spinners and it is important for his batsmen to not get distracted with their plans.

"The one thing about the Indian bowling attack is, it's not just about spin. I suppose their seam attack is also strong and so from that point of view, it's not to just get side-tracked completely into the spin side of things as well.

Indian bowling has developed into a very good attack and we are very aware of that. When you come to the sub-continent you will have to deal with spin. More so with the Indian attack, we are aware. The training time (three days) will be used to strike a fine balance practising both," added Thorpe.

While Thorpe admitted that the upcoming four-match Test series against India is going to be very challenging for his side, but he also added that his boys are looking forward to it and are very well prepared for the same.

"There is hell lot of hard cricket ahead of us. I don't think I am under any illusions about that. But as a cricketer when you get to the highest level, you want to test yourself in many ways in a very different sort of environment as well. But it's a challenge we're looking forward to.

India at home is a real challenge. They're playing very good cricket and have been very strong at home. They've been coming back off a win in Australia as well, so for us, it presents a real challenge. Let's say that's sort of where you want to be as a player," he added.