Former South Africa pace great Morne Morkel has been roped in as the Indian cricket team’s new bowling coach, BCCI secretary Jay Shah told PTI on Wednesday, completing the appointment of new head coach Gautam Gambhir‘s preferred support staff. It is understood that the 39-year-old, who replaces Paras Mhambrey, will take over as the bowling coach from the Bangladesh series that starts with the opening Test in Chennai from September 19. He has been appointed till the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.

“Yes, Morne Morkel has been appointed bowling coach of the senior India men’s team,” Shah told PTI.

The other members of Gambhir’s support staff are assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, and fielding coach Ryan Ten Doeschate.

Morkel was also Gambhir’s preferred choice, having worked with him at Lucknow Super Giants during the Indian’s two IPL seasons as mentor of the franchise.

Morkel has played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is for South Africa with a total of 544 international wickets.

He will be reporting in Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy at the start of next month and is expected to watch the Duleep Trophy games. Once there, he will also touch base with VVS Laxman and head of bowling in NCA, Troy Cooley.

According to sources, Morkel was directly appointed on Gambhir’s recommendation ahead of other options like Lakshmipathy Balaji and R Vinay Kumar.

“The Cricket Advisory Committee’s (CAC) mandate was to interview the candidates for the head coach. When it came to choice of support staff, it was imperative that Gambhir’s choice prevailed. He has worked with Morne and thinks of him highly as a bowling coach,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“Also with the big series against Australia coming up Down Under from last week of November, there isn’t a better choice than the South African, who has himself enjoyed fair bit of success over there. Also there will be the five-Test tour of England next year with a potential sixth match if India reach WTC final.” It is understood that Balaji and Vinay’s names weren’t considered once it was clear that Morkel would carry forward the good work done by Mhambrey.

One half of the famous fast bowling duo that featured Dale Steyn, Morkel is a cricketing heavyweight and has also played quite a lot in India to have a fair idea about the conditions.

Also, his stint in the IPL has allowed him to have a ringside view of India’s next crop of fast bowlers including the most exciting of them all — Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan and Yash Thakur to name a few.

A lot of observers believe that Morkel worked quite a lot with Mayank during the past two seasons of IPL even though he remained injured for the better part.

Morkel’s biggest challenge will be to handle the transition phase as Mohammed Shami enters the business end of his illustrious career and Jasprit Bumrah needs more potent support apart from Mohammed Siraj, especially in red-ball cricket.

Morkel had last year worked with the Pakistan team till the end of the ODI World Cup and quit before his contract expired.

India have never had any spin bowling coach as such although former director Ravi Shastri was a distinguished left-arm spinner in his playing days. Sairaj Bahutule, who is a part of Laxman’s team at the NCA, has travelled on and off with the senior team.

Young India wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel has revealed that he was cheering for South Africa during the side’s 2024 T20 World Cup final against India in Barbados. In the summit clash, India won by seven runs, snatching an unbelievable victory from the jaws of defeat. At one stage, South Africa needed just 30 runs from 30 balls but India managed to turn the tide in their favour. Now, Jurel has confessed that while he was supporting India, South Africa were playing well. So, playing on the jinx, he switched to supporting South Africa so that India could make a comeback in the game. And sure enough, India did bounce back.

“When I was watching the final and cheering for India, South Africa came in the winning position, so I started cheering for South Africa and India made a comeback. I kept cheering for South Africa and India won the World Cup,” Jurel told BCCI.

Where were they?

What were they doing

How much #TeamIndia‘s #T20WorldCup 2024 triumph means to them?

Indian Cricket Team in Zimbabwe is like the All Of Us! #Champions

WATCH – By @ameyatilak pic.twitter.com/J2VDtNwSPk

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 5, 2024

Jurel is part of the India squad that is touring Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series, starting from July 6, and is expected to make his India debut in the shortest format. Jurel made his Test debut for India against England in February this year.

Talking about the India vs South Africa 2024 T20 World Cup final, an excellent final five overs bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh clawed the Rohit Sharma-led side back into the game, as the dangerous duo of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller were dismissed

Team India celebrated its T20 World Cup title in incredible fashion, as it conducted an open-top bus parade on the streets of Mumbai, starting from the Marine Drive to the Wankhede stadium.

35,000 spectators packed the Wankhede stadium while lakhs were on the streets to celebrate the T20 World Cup victory with the team. The parade was a repeat of what happened in 2007, when an MS Dhoni-led young India side won the inaugural T20 World Cup. After the tournament, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from T20Is.