The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel as the new bowling coach of the Indian team until 2027. The tall pacer’s first assignment with the national side is going to be during the two-match Test series at home against Bangladesh before they face New Zealand for three more red-ball games.
The acid test for Morne Morkel will be the upcoming five-match series in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia towards the end of the year. With two back-to-back away series wins, the eyes will be on the Indian team to continue their consistency to retain the trophy. The bowling group will need to step up for that in every single game.
The 39-year-old has been a proven coach with fruitful stints with the Pakistan team and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL, where he worked with the current head coach of India, Gautam Gambhir, who preferred the name of Morkel.
Morne Morkel’s overseas success helps him to become India’s bowling coach
His international career, which lasted for nearly 12 years, saw Morne Morkel being part of 86 Test matches, 117 One-day internationals, and 44 T20Is, where he has recorded around 550 wickets across formats, with an average of around 25.
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The veteran is expected to report to Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy at the start of the next month, besides watching a couple of Duleep Trophy games. Once he joins NCA, he will come in touch with former Indian batter VVS Laxman and the head of bowling at NCA, Troy Cooley.
“The Cricket Advisory Committee’s (CAC) mandate was to interview the candidates for the head coach. When it came to the choice of support staff, Gambhir’s choice needed to prevail. He has worked with Morne and thinks of him highly as a bowling coach.” A BCCI source has expressed it to PTI on the process.
The real examination for him will be the Australia tour, where he will look to share some of his vital experiences of bowling on those tracks. He has traveled to Australia in his Test career, winning all of the series in 2008-09, 2012 and 2016.
India is also going to take part in a five-match Test series in England, after a potential final of the World Test Championship (WTC) in the ongoing third cycle.
“Also with the big series against Australia coming up Down Under from the last week of November, there isn’t a better choice than the South African, who has himself enjoyed a fair bit of success over there. Also, there will be the five-Test tour of England next year with a potential sixth match if India reaches the WTC final.” The source remarked.
It was also understood once Morne Morkel’s name was considered and was clear to get appointed, none of Balaji and Vijay’s names were considered. He will look to carry forward the same good work done by Paras Mhambrey.
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He has managed the young pacers of Lucknow, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, and Yash Thakur in a very good way, and will aim to do the same with the senior bowlers. Last year, he worked with the Pakistan team till the end of the ODI World Cup and later quit his contract.
India hardly had a specialist spin bowling coach in the team, even though the former director Ravi Shastri was a left-arm spinner in their playing days, while Sairaj Bahutule, who was part of Laxman’s team at the NCA, traveled on and off with the senior team.