The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Morne Morkel, the former South African pacer as the bowling coach for India’s senior men’s side. Morkel’s contract will start on September 1. Jay Shah, the secretary of the BCCI, confirmed the news.
Due to personal reasons, Morkel was unable to travel with the Indian side to Sri Lanka, therefore Sairaj Bahutule filled in for him for the six white-ball matches. Morkel will take over for the forthcoming home series against Bangladesh, which begins on September 19 with the Test in Chennai.
Morkel will reunite with his companion at the Lucknow Super Giants and India’s current head coach Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir is believed to have recommended Morkel to the BCCI for the position of India’s bowling coach. At LSG, where Gambhir worked as a mentor for two years, he and Morkel forged a close working connection. Morkel continued to work with the team as bowling coach under Justin Langer, the new head coach, even after Gambhir left to join the Kolkata Knight Riders and head coach Andy Flower moved to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
As India plays five home Test matches from September to November and then embarks on a tour of Australia, where they will play a five-match Test series for the first time since 1992, one of Morkel’s immediate challenges will be to maintain the strength of their fast bowling bench.
Sairaj Bahutule, the former legspinner for India who also served as bowling coach during the Sri Lankan tour, may or may not remain as a part of the support staff. It is known that the management of the team hopes to develop a group of spinners outside of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav. Bahutule may contribute as a spin consultant, even if temporarily.
During the ODI World Cup in India last year, Morkel also served as Pakistan’s bowling coach. However, he left the position months before his contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was about to expire.
Currently serving as assistant coaches to Gambhir are Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate. T Dilip, who worked under Rahul Dravid’s previous administration, will stay on as the fielding coach.
Morkel had a 12-year international career that included 86 Tests, 117 ODIs, 44 T20Is, and 544 wickets. He has worked as a bowling consultant for several teams all over the world after retiring. Morkel 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 in addition to Pakistan and LSG.
