TimesofIndia.com in DUBAI: About fifteen minutes before the team bus was parked outside the ICC Academy in Dubai, Virat Kohli went to the local manager and made some requests. The manager patiently heard the star batter and walked to the main entrance. When he returned, there was a big paper bag from a popular food joint which had few boxes of Kohli’s post-session meal. While the others packed their kit bags after more than three hours of intense training, Kohli was refueling and even saved a box for the road.
It was the Indian cricket team’s first hit ahead of the Champions Trophy and the side hit the ground less than 12 hours after landing in Dubai on February 15. The session started with a unique drill where a tennis ball was hit way up into the air and a player, with the helmet on, had to rebound it off his head and one of the surrounding fielders were waiting to catch it to earn a point. Some points and lots of fun and games later, serious business got underway.

Kohli was one of the first batters to scratch the popping crease and he had Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya for company in the adjacent nets. One had just throwdowns, the other featured quicks Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami while the corner-most was the spin net with Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav bowling. Pandya went bang-bang and Shreyas Iyer continued with similar approach as fireworks were underway when the two were batting. “Watch the ball, watch it, ball incoming,” the support staff kept screaming warnings for the security personnel and media near the ropes as the big hits didn’t stop.
Feel of the ball
The adjacent nets were quiet on that front as both Kohli and Rohit were happy to get a feel of the ball. There weren’t many deliveries in that outside-off channel to Kohli as the right-hander was mostly fed the stump line. Some creaming flicks, on-drives and lofted drives later, he grew in confidence and even showcased his range off the back-foot. The crisp pulls and slashes square off the wicket were on display as he batted for close to an hour. Similarly, Rohit was happy to feel the middle of the blade and was even tested on a few occasions by Arshdeep Singh’s incoming deliveries and the occasional yorker.

Throughout the session, the intensity from both the batters and bowlers didn’t drop an inch as Arshdeep and Shami bowled for close to an hour at full tilt, and the batters were at it even while taking turns on different surfaces. Head coach Gautam Gambhir was stationed right behind the nets as action unfolded and there was a moment of concern in the afternoon when Rishabh Pant was doing his wicketkeeping drills.
The Pant blow
A Pandya slash hit Pant on the left knee and he was down on the ground the next moment.

The physios and medical team rushed to give him immediate attention as he grimaced in pain. It was the same knee which received a lot of damage during the horrific accident few years back and immediate ice treatment was necessitated by the blow with Pant flat on the ground. Some time later, he was up on his feet and limped towards the rope before he was interrupted by Pandya who checked on him and gave a hug. After some more treatment, Pant had his knee heavily strapped.

All this while, Pant continued to smile and to everyone’s surprise started padding up for a hit. He limped to the nets but that didn’t affect his big hitting. The left-hander batted without any visible discomfort but he was limped when he made his way back to the change room. The limping continued when he boarded the team bus as well but the smile never left his face. Pant as usual!
Arshdeep’s zen mode
Something unusual, however, happened towards the end of the session as Arshdeep, after a really long spell, switched to zen mode when he took a book out and started reading. Others around him continued to be chatty and noisy but the youngster was so engrossed in his book that he only left the chair when the manager signalled the players to start walking to the bus.

On expected lines, a massive crowd had assembled to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars and Kohli had to momentarily ditch his food box to sign autographs for the waiting fans who created a buzzing atmosphere before the team could finally make their way back to the hotel.