With only a couple of days to go for India’s opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, against Bangladesh, the team was dealt a blow as bowling coach Morne Morkel had to leave the Indian camp in Dubai and return home.
The former South African pacer has returned home because of the death of his father, reported Dainik Jagran. Morkel, who was appointed in September last year, was in Dubai along with the Indian team in Dubai and had attended the team’s first training session on Sunday, where he had spent a considerable time with pace spearhead Mohammed Shami, who recently made a comeback from injury in the white-ball series against England.
📍 Touchdown Dubai! 🛬#TeamIndia have arrived for #ChampionsTrophy 🏆 2025 😎 pic.twitter.com/obWYScvOmw
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 15, 2025
Morkel was absent from the training session on Monday, and it is yet unclear when he will be rejoining the squad.
India are without the services of their ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who is recovering from a back injury. Shami will be leading a young pace attack comprising Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.
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After their match against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, India will play arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23, and New Zealand on March 2. India are playing all their matches in Dubai, and not in the host country Pakistan, because of safety concerns.
India squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy.
