Morne Morkel has been appointed as the bowling coach of the senior India men’s team, with his contract beginning on September 1. After weeks of speculation, the signing was formally confirmed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday to Cricbuzz.
Morne Morkel will replace Paras Mhambrey as the bowling coach, whose tenure ended after India won the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the Caribbean. Morkel was the frontrunner for the role after being on the shortlist alongside R Vinay Kumar, a former India seamer.
Morkel was Pakistan’s bowling coach till last December. Gambhir suggested him, having worked with him for two seasons (2022-23) with both the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL and the Durban Super Giants in the SA20.
Morne Morkel was supposed to join the Indian team as a bowling coach starting from the tour of Sri Lanka. However, Morne Morkel, who resides in Australia, had to fly home to South Africa to tend to his ailing father. This made him miss the Sri Lanka series.
Morne Morkel’s first assignment to be Bangladesh Test series at home
Sairaj Bahutule was then named bowling coach for the tour in the interim. It is unclear whether former India legspinner Sairaj Bahutule, who also served as bowling coach during the Sri Lanka tour, will remain on the support staff. It is known that team management wants to develop a pool of spinners beyond R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav, and Bahutule may be involved as a spin consultant, albeit not on a permanent basis.
Among Morkel’s immediate challenges will be to ensure India’s fast bowling bench strength remains strong as they play five home Tests between September and November, followed by a tour of Australia, where they will play a five-Test series for the first time since 1992.
Gambhir’s coaching staff now comprises Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate as assistant coaches. T Dilip, who was the fielding coach during Rahul Dravid’s previous administration, will continue in his role.
Morkel’s 12-year international career included 86 Tests, 117 ODIs, and 44 T20Is, and he took 544 wickets in all. Since retirement, he has worked as a bowling consultant for many teams throughout the world. Apart from Pakistan and LSG, Morkel has also worked with New Zealand in the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup and, most recently, Namibia at the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup.
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