India’s new head coach Gautam Gambhir wants former South African pacer Morne Morkel in the Support staff as bowling coach.
Gautam Gambhir wants Morne Morkel as India’s Bowling Coach
Morne Morkel and Gautam Gambhir have worked together as bowling coach and mentor of the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Morkel has been part of the KKR squad which won the title in the IPL 2014 under the captaincy of Gambhir.
With Gambhir has been announced as India’s head coach on July 09, he wants Morne Morkel as India’s bowling coach.
However, the BCCI has not taken any decision on it. India is set to play three T20Is at Pallekele and ODIs at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo during the Sri Lanka tour, it was announced on Thursday which will be Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment as India’s head coach.
The 39-year-old Morne Morkel was Pakistan’s bowling coach till the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India. Morne has played International cricket between 2006-2018. A former left-handed batter has played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs, and 44 T20Is picking 309, 188, and 47 wickets respectively.
He played his last test against Australia in Johannesburg in 2018 while playing his ODI against India at Centurion in 2018. His last game in the T20 format was against the World Xl in 2017.
Recently, Gambhir has demanded BCCI to add Ryan Ten Doeschate to the Indian coach set-up. Doeschate was Kolkata’s fielding coach and also part of the teams that the franchise owns in the Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket. He has always been openly backed by Gambhir who is committed to the team’s objectives.
The BCCI reportedly wants to retain T Dilip, a member of Rahul Dravid’s outgoing staff as the fielding coach. If this is the scenario, Doeschate may be brought in as an assistant coach. But there is another talk, Abhishek Nayar is certain to join team Gambhir and is also being considered for a similar assistant coach role rather than a specialized batting coach role.
Gambhir replaced Rahul Dravid as India’s head coach last week after his tenure ended with the T20 World Cup, which India won to end their 11-year wait for an ICC Trophy.
