Morne Morkel, the former South African pacer, has been appointed as the new bowling coach of the Indian men's team. Morkel, who in the past has served as the bowling coach of Lucknow and Durban's Super Giants in the IPL and SA20 respectively and the Pakistan men's cricket team, will be joining the likes of Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate as part of Indian team's support staff led by head coach Gautam Gambhir.
As per a Cricbuzz report, the BCCI secretary confirmed Morkel's appointment and his tenure will begin on September 1. The Indian team toured Sri Lanka with Sairaj Bahutule as the interim bowling coach for six white-ball matches. Nayar and ten Doeschate were both confirmed by the new head coach as assistant coaches.
Morkel will be re-joining Gambhir having worked with him as a player and captain in the past with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and as bowling coach and mentor with the Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2023, before the former India opener left the franchise and returned to KKR and led them to their third IPL title in 2024.
Morkel, who played 247 international matches for South Africa, took 309 wickets in Tests, 188 in ODIs and 47 in T20Is. During his prime, Morkel formed a hostile pace trio for the Proteas alongside Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. Since getting into coaching, Morkel worked with Pakistan team for ODI World Cup last year in India and the Super Giants' franchise both in the IPL and SA20.
For the Indian team, Morkel's first assignment will be the two-match Test series against Bangladesh starting September 19 in Chennai. It is a long Test season for India and both Gambhir and Morkel's priority will be the workload management of the fast bowlers, especially Jaspruit Bumrah, considering he will be the most important bowler for the side in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India later this year.
