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

Dubai: The Indian cricket team had a strenuous training session here on Wednesday 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.

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.

The BCCI media manager said there was no need to get worried about Gill.

Rishabh Pant has recovered from an illness and trained on Wednesday with the rest of the squad.

India enjoyed a couple of days off after outplaying Pakistan in their second group game. They have already reached the semifinals from Group A alongside New Zealand.

Both teams will face each other in their last group match here on March 2.

India, who last won the Champions Trophy in 2013, are favourites to lift the title considering their spin-heavy squad combination and the way they have played thus far in the tournament.

India play all their games in Dubai where the pitch has been slow and aided the spinners so far.

Considering the hybrid model of the tournament, India are the only side which is playing at one venue and that has been questioned by the likes of former England skipper Michael Atherton, who sees it as an undeniable advantage to Rohit Sharma and Co.

While the tournament hosts are Pakistan, India will also play the final in Dubai if they qualify.