The Indian men’s team has appointed former South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel as their new bowling coach. Jay Shah, the secretary of the BCCI, officially confirmed it on Wednesday, after weeks of speculation.
Morkel will take the place of former Indian fast bowler Paras Mhambrey, and with this appointment, India now has a full coaching team consisting of fielding coach T Dilip, assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate, and head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Morkel was the front-runner for the position after being included on the shortlist alongside former India seamer R Vinay Kumar. Prior to last December, Morkel was Pakistan‘s bowling coach. Team India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had previously worked with him for two seasons (2022–2023) at both the Durban Super Giants in the SA20 and the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, suggested his name.
Morkel’s immediate challenge in his new role will be to maintain the strength of India’s fast bowling bench. As India has to play five home Test matches from September to November and then embarks on a tour of Australia, where they will play a five-Test series for the first time since 1992.
It is unclear whether former India legspinner Sairaj Bahutule, who also served as bowling coach during the Sri Lanka tour, will remain on the support staff. It is known that team management wants to develop a pool of spinners beyond R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav, and Bahutule may be involved as a spin consultant, albeit not on a permanent basis.
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Morkel had taken 544 wickets in his 12-year-long international career. He represents South Africa in 86 Tests, 117 ODIs, and 44 T20Is on the international level. 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 IPL side Lucknow Super Giants.
