Morne Morkel has been appointed as the new bowling coach of India by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The former pacer joined the India camp in Chennai before the two-match Test series. He was seen spending time with Akash Deep and other young pacers in the camp as the Indian team gears up for a 10-Test marathon: two against Bangladesh, followed by three against New Zealand and then a five-match away tour against Australia as well.

After the first practice session, Morne Morkel stated that the Indian team is lucky to have multiple quality senior players in the team and added that the set-up sort of operates by itself as well. He also stated that the expectations are quite high in the Indian team but the former South Africa international is ready to share the knowledge as well.

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“I know there will be expectations of winning and luckily I have experienced that in my playing days. I can share that knowledge. When I was setting the plan, I reflected upon that we are so lucky to have quality senior players. The senior players lead the charge. It’s our responsibility to support them. Just give them the right sort of advice we can give. It’s a set-up that sort of operates by itself. So to protect that and better that is the goal,” said Morkel in a video released by BCCI.

⏪ Feeling after being named Bowling Coach
🏏 Goals for an exciting home season
🍲 Savouring Indian Food 😃

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 #𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗕𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 – 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗹 🙌 – By @RajalArora

WATCH 🎥🔽 #INDvBAN | @mornemorkel65 | @IDFCFIRSTBank

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 14, 2024

Morkel shared, “I’m here now on the setup and I’m looking forward to a great journey and time with India. For me, it is important to connect well with the guys. I’ve played a lot against some of the players I’ve seen and connected a little bit too with some of the guys doing IPL and to now be in the camp and form friendships and relationships for me is very important. And, for today that was sort of the goal, to get an understanding about the guys, their strengths, their weaknesses and help a little bit by sitting and planting little seeds for the goals for the upcoming series. And yeah, that’s the sort of conversation we had today,” he added.

“I sat for five minutes in the room reflecting on it. I first spoke to my dad, didn’t go to my wife. Normally they say go to your wife, but I went to speak to dad. Been a cricket fan for years and knowing what’s going to come is quite a special moment. I enjoyed it for about five to seven minutes by myself and then shared with my family about the opportunity,” Morne Morkel concluded.