Indian bowling attack world-class, self operated: Morkel

Chennai, Sep 14: As Team India get ready for the two Test series against Bangladesh from September 19, here, former South Africa pace spearhead Morne Morkel, is expected to swing into action in his first official assignment as India's Bowling Coach.

Asked about his new role, the 39-year-old African remarked that the Indian bowling set-up is a well balanced, self operated and a world class attack. His responsibility will be to guide and support the bowlers.

During the practice sessions at MA Chidambaram Stadium, here since Team India began their training from Friday, Morkel has been spending considerable time with pacers Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep at the nets.

Replying to a query regarding the huge expectations from Team India, who have finished runners-up in the first two editions of the World Test Championship, he remarked that India have a nice mix of quality pacers and spinners, who are well experienced and are all proven match-winners. 

After the first Test between India and Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, here, the second Test will be played in Kanpur from September 27. 

Then the two Asian teams will lock horns in a three-game T20I series. The three T20 games will be hosted in Gwalior (October 6), Delhi (October 9) and Hyderabad (October 12).

India's next challenge will be a three-Test series at home against New Zealand. The first match will be played from October 16 in Bengaluru.

The second and third Test matches between hosts Team India and visitors Black Caps will be played in Pune (October 24) and Mumbai (November 1).

It can be recalled that Morkel earlier worked with present India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir, during their coaching stints with IPL franchisee Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). 

As far as Morkel's previous international assignments as Bowling Coach, he was with the Pakistan team during the ODI World Cup 2023, which was played in India. 

As a player, Morne Morkel played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is for South Africa. He has 544 international wickets to his credit across the three formats. He was the leading wicket taker for South Africa in the ODI World Cup 2015 

He also played 70 IPL matches and had represented Rajasthan, Delhi and Kolkata franchises.