Morkel rejoins India squad as bowling coach; Kohli spends extra time with spinners

Indian cricket team trains in Dubai ahead of New Zealand clash, with Virat Kohli facing spinners and bowlers impressing.

The Indian cricket team had a strenuous training session Dubai on Wednesday (February 26, 2025) with talismanic batter Virat Kohli spending a lot of time facing spinners even as bowling coach Morne Morkel rejoined the side after attending to a personal emergency back home.

Virat not only faced the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja during the training session but also spent more than half an hour plying the net bowlers ahead of the clash against New Zealand on Sunday (February 22, 2025).

Pace bowling stalwart Mohammed Shami too was seen bowling at full tilt, swinging the ball both ways and rapping Kohli twice on his pads, while Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh too looked determined to give their best during the session.

Under the watchful eyes of Morkel, all bowlers looked sharp and geared up to take up the New Zealand challenge.

Morkel had to leave the Indian camp a couple of days before the team's Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh on February 20.

The former South Africa pacer was seen having a long chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir as the players did their warm-up drills at the ICC Academy here.

Shubman Gill, who has been India's stand out batter in the tournament, was the only one who did not turn up for practice.