Morkel wants to tweak India’s well-oiled bowling

Morne Morkel, the former South Africa pacer, took over as India's bowling coach ahead of their upcoming Test series against Bangladesh.

Morkel oversaw India's practice session in Chennai before their opening game against Bangladesh on 19 September. The 39-year-old praised India's background setup which benefitted from the presence of responsible senior players.

"Coming here [India], this is a set-up that operates by itself. To protect that and make it better in small ways is going to be the goal," Morkel said on BCCI.tv. "When I was sitting in the plane, I reflected that we are so lucky to have quality senior players and they will lead the charge.

"Our responsibility is to support them and give them the best sort of advice that we can give."

Morkel has plenty of experience in India both as a player and coach. Besides playing 20 international games in the country, the lanky pacer also featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for several seasons. He also coached the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants in 2022 and 2023, where he worked alongside India head coach Gautam Gambhir.

He believes that his prior interactions with India players could be the starting point for healthy relationships going ahead.
"I have played a lot against some of the players, I have seen and connected a little bit with some of the guys during the IPL. To be now in the camp and form friendships and relationships is very important.

"Today's goal was to get an understanding of the guys, their strengths and weaknesses, and help them with planting those seeds for goals for the upcoming series. That's the sort of conversation we had today."

With India's bowling lineup, especially the pace department teeming with talent, Morkel believed a part of his job would be to ease in new players when they walk into the setup.

"It's one thing to have talent and skill but how can you make those guys feel welcome in an intimidating environment? Playing in the blue shirt is a lot of expectations, so for me, having the experience, going through that, and passing that sort of knowledge and helping them settle in and feel at home [is important]."

The Rohit Sharma-led Test squad features eight bowling options, with four pacers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Yash Dayal, and four spinners: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav.

India's immediate concern will be the World Test Championship, wherein they're atop at the standings with a point percentage of 68.52. If they manage a top two finish at the end of the cycle, the Men in Blue will feature in their third successive final.