Virat Kohli had a very simple instruction for his India players ahead of the second Test with England - "catch the ball".

The hosts were below par in the field in the opener in Rajkot, shelling three chances in the first session as Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed rode their luck.

Ben Stokes was then dropped twice behind the stumps by Wriddhiman Saha, the all-rounder going on to make 128 in the tourists' mammoth 537.

In the end, India needed an unbeaten 49 from Kohli to secure a draw as England fell four wickets short of victory, and the captain expects better from his side in the second Test at Visakhapatnam, which starts on Thursday.

"Catch the ball - that's all I can say to sum it up," Kohli said. "We have caught really well in the last 12-14 months.

"In Test cricket if you don't take your chances then the game is very difficult to pull back. I think that was the main difference rather than skill or the pitch or the toss.

"If you take your chances, you have a team five down for a 100 compared to three down for 250. It's a different ball game altogether."

India will welcome KL Rahul back into their batting line up, the opener set to replace Gautam Gambhir after missing the first Test with a hamstring injury.

"We had it pretty clear in our heads that KL is our number one choice along with [Murali] Vijay," Kohli said.

"When he is fit at any stage, he comes back into the team and we are going to start with him. That was the whole idea behind it. We were waiting for him to recover as soon as possible.

"In the meantime, Gautam got the chances that he got. He played really well in different situations."

"I am really excited that I am back," added Rahul, in an interview with the BCCI's official website.

"My fitness is good and I am batting really well and have got runs in the Ranji Trophy game against Team Rajasthan.

"Hopefully I can continue from where I left off from Kanpur and go from strength to strength. I am looking forward to this series and making it big again."