Key Points

Kuldeep's last appearance for India in T20Is came during the 2024 T20 World Cup final, which India won by seven runs against South Africa to win the trophy in Barbados. Though he's picked 69 wickets in 40 T20Is, Kuldeep did not play in India's drawn 2-2 Test series in England.

For the spinners' slot, the wily Kuldeep has competition in fellow wrist-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who also played a pivotal role in India winning 2025 Champions Trophy in the UAE.

"I think he's a very professional athlete. His attitude since England, where he received hardly any game time, he's still the guy that put the overs in. For me, Kuldeep has bowled a lot of overs in his career. He knows what to do to get himself ready for T20 and white-ball cricket."

"Like I said, we can control only what we can control now and that is when we do train now and when we have our sessions, that it's focused, there's a purpose behind it and we have goals. We set those goals out and from there it's up to them to go out and lead with the ball," said Morkel in a press conference on the sidelines of India's practice session at the ICC Academy on Monday.

The current weather in the UAE is scorching and what it's effect will be on fresh pitches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is, remains to be seen. "Again, we need to go and look at the wicket. I think when the Champions Trophy was played at that time, there was a lot of cricket on the surfaces here and they looked a little bit tired."

"So again, tonight we will have a first look at the surface and I believe there's quite a bit of a grass covering on the square. So we'll have a good idea going into after the first game in terms of what is sort of a better way to go. But in terms of planning at the moment, we're covering all bases and then we'll make the decision obviously on match day," added Morkel.

He also spoke candidly about the mental fatigue from the tough Test tour of England and how he recharged himself at home ahead of planning for a gruelling cricket season with the Indian team management. "I'm not going to lie, the England tour was quite mentally a tough tour. For me, it was also quite nice to step away and just get myself mentally ready for a tough couple of months coming up."

"It's going to be a lot of cricket that we're going to play. We're going to be a lot of time away from home. So, I invested also time in a little bit of my family, and then, obviously, planning never stops."

"We're always in conversations with the fitness trainers, S&C trainers and fielding coaches and with Gautam. Like, how can we improve, guys? What can we do to make this guy better?"

"So, there's endless conversations in terms of planning for the squad and building groups and looking at the red ball and white ball teams. But in that break, for me, it was important also just to refresh and recharge," concluded Morkel.

- IANS