Morne Morkel appointed as India's bowling coach

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Morne Morkel, the former South Africa fast bowler, has been appointed as the bowling coach of the Indian men’s team. After weeks of speculation, the signing was formally confirmed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday.

Morkel replaced former India fast bowler Paras Mhambrey, and his appointment completes India’s coaching staff, which comprises head coach Gautam Gambhir, assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, and fielding coach T Dilip.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Morkel was the frontrunner for the job after being part of the shortlist with R Vinay Kumar, the former India seamer.

Morkel was Pakistan’s bowling coach until last December. His name was recommended by Gambhir, who worked with him for two seasons (2022-23) at Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL as well as at Durban Super Giants in the SA20.

Among Morkel’s immediate challenges will be to ensure India’s fast bowling bench strength remains strong as they play five home Tests between September and November, followed by a tour of Australia, where they will play a five-Test series for the first time since 1992.

It isn’t clear yet if Sairaj Bahutule, the former India legspinner who doubled up as bowling coach on the tour of Sri Lanka, will continue to be part of the support staff. It is understood that the team management wants to build a pool of spinners apart from R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, and it’s likely Bahutule could be involved as a spin consultant, even if not on a permanent basis.

Morkel played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is during a 12-year international career in which he picked up 544 wickets. Since retiring, he has been a bowling consultant with different teams around the world. Apart from Pakistan and LSG, Morkel also worked with New Zealand at the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup and most recently with Namibia at the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup.

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