Morne Morkel's coaching set to be crucial in upcoming Australia and England tours

Mumbai: Gautam Gambhir will never forget the intense battle he had with the tall and intimidating Morne Morkel during the Centurion Test of 2010. Morkel's relentless accuracy troubled both Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar in the following Test at Cape Town. However, their rivalry turned into friendship as Gambhir led Morkel to victory in Kolkata Knight Riders' 2014 IPL triumph. They continued to collaborate as part of the coaching staff for the Lucknow Super Giants.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed Morkel’s appointment on Wednesday as the new India bowling coach. Morkel will link up with the Indian team in their pre-series camp in Chennai that will begin a week before the September 19 Test against Bangladesh.

The 39-year-old Morkel’s appointment means the India head coach’s support staff has a youthful look. Roping in coaches with recent playing or coaching experience is known to have been a key focus in Gambhir’s discussions with BCCI. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate are his assistant coaches. Fielding coach T Dilip is the only one from Rahul Dravid’s coaching staff to be retained. There is no specialist batting coach after Vikram Rathore’s exit and Gambhir would be doubling up in that role and engage in discussions with the batting group. India’s spinners have generally been self-reliant.

Key challenges

Morkel’s appointment marks the return of an overseas professional as bowling coach after Bharat Arun, and later Paras Mhambrey, did that duty in the past 10 years.

An accomplished fast bowler who played 86 Tests, Morkel was a fearsome force with Dale Steyn, particularly for the disconcerting bounce he extracted on South African pitches. There is no South African tour scheduled during Gambhir’s reign in the next three years.

Morkel’s key challenge would be to nurture a fast-bowling group that can ace Australian and England conditions where India will play five Tests each in the next 12 months. Morkel is now an Australian citizen after marriage and played in the Big Bash League classified as a local.

One of India’s fast bowling shortcomings over the last decade has been their inability to find the wicket-taking full length for English conditions. Morkel too took some time to master English conditions and will have plenty of experience to share on how different fast bowling types could tweak their approach with the Dukes ball. With the World Test Championship final being hosted regularly in England, Morkel’s guidance will be interesting to watch.

Pacers will also look for assistance on home pitches with India playing plenty of Tests. As a player, Morkel led the Proteas pace attack well in 2015 in Steyn’s absence, exhibiting his ability with reverse swing.

Morkel’s recent IPL stints would mean he is very familiar with T20 tactics. Under his watch at LSG, pace sensation Mayank Yadav consistently crossed the 150kph barrier in this year’s IPL. Mayank though is yet to regain full fitness after he was injured during the tournament. Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma will hope that under Morkel, Mayank and the other express pacer from Jammu and Kashmir, Umran Malik, can realise their full potential.

While Jasprit Bumrah continues to crank up results everywhere, there are other exciting bowlers to watch like Prasidh Krishna who is one of the few in India who can hit the deck sharply. Krishna will be returning to action in the Duleep trophy, having recovered from his back injury.

International experience

As a coach, Morkel’s only international coaching assignment was with the Pakistan team where he served as bowling coach for six months, last year. It included the 2023 ODI World Cup and working with quality operators like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Harris Rauf and Naseem Khan.

“You can’t get enough of getting the basics right for a long period of time when it comes to Test match cricket. In the sub-continent we need to look for certain areas to strike, find your style of play and plan accordingly,” Morkel was quoted by PCB during his previous stint.

His first comments after joining the Indian ranks may not be too different or flashy. Whether the next line of Indian pacemen grasp this simplicity to wicket-taking in Test match cricket – accuracy and relentlessness, will tell us if India’s fast bowlers can touch new peaks.

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