With just under two weeks for the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to commence in the UAE, Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday went through their first practice drills under the shimmering heat in Dubai.


The franchise which had ferried down its players to the middle east nation last week on August 21 completed their mandatory quarantine period of six days on Wednesday and were ready to get themselves into training mode with an intense net session.

Taking to Twitter, Kohli , shared his experience of the first training session in over five months with his RCB teammates and seemed overjoyed with the prospect of being back and meeting willow with the red cherry after a long Covid-19 induced hiatus.


 RCB skipper Virat Kohli was a key attraction amid the Red Brigade undergoing their fitness and training drills. Kohli who took to the nets after almost six months since India's ODI game against South Africa at Dharamsala, looked in good touch as he was spotted playing a couple of pull shots in the nets.



While skipper Kohli who will spearhead the batting efforts for his team was witnessed fine tuning his, RCB seamers Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini were getting back into their groove by undergoing some bowling sessions.


RCB who have been one of the most high profile teams boasting of a galaxy of T20 stalwarts over the years are yet to win an IPL title. The Bangalore-based franchise has come close on three occasions but ending up as the losing finalist.

Speaking on the balance and depth of the RCB squad, the team's director of operations said - "We were very clear about our death bowling and wanted to make sure we got it covered. We went into the auction wanting to fix that," said Hesson at the virtual media interaction.

"We have got Udana, Morris, Richardson, Steyn. Navdeep Saini has done the job nicely and our spinners too will play a big part. We got Chahal who is exceptional bowler and a nice mix of spinners (Shahbaz Nadeem, Pawan Negi, Moeen Ali).

He was also seen having an intense conversation with the franchise's Director of Cricket Operations, Mike Hesson.