Morne Morkel has assumed his duties as Indian team head coach. Team India players have joined the preparatory camp ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from September 19 onwards.
India will also play one more Test against Bangladesh, in Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium from September 27 onwards. Then the two teams will clash in a three-match T20i series beginning October 6.
BCCI has organized a prep camp for Indian team players as they are coming off a one-month break from cricket. Also, India last played a Test in March, against England and since then it has been a steady dose of white-ball cricket in IPL 2024 and T20 World Cup 2024, followed by Sri Lanka ODIs and T20Is.
Morne Morkel joins the Indian team for his first assignment as the bowling coach
Former South African bowler Morne Morkel has joined India’s national cricket team ahead of the first Test match. It is worth mentioning that Gambhir, who was appointed India’s head coach in July, had a significant influence on Morkel’s hiring by the BCCI as India’s bowling coach.
He brought in Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate from KKR, but he was unable to secure Morkel in time for the Sri Lanka series, so he settled with Sairaj Bahutule, who joined the team as interim bowling coach.
The BCCI announced Morne Morkel’s appointment as India’s bowling coach in August 2024.
Morne Morkel was seen in the team huddle in Team India’s first practice session in Chennai in a picture shared by the BCCI on Friday, which soon went viral on social media.
The countdown starts as #TeamIndia begin their preps for an exciting home season.#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/VlIvau5AfD
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 13, 2024
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.
India will play their first Test match after more than six months. Meanwhile, the new series has Virat, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul. Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, is yet to earn a spot on the team.
India Squad for first Test v Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
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