Before joining India’s support staff, Morne Morkel served as Pakistan’s bowling coach in 2023. (Picture Credit: AFP)
India’s bowling coach, Morne Morkel, was associated with the Pakistan men’s cricket team last year, but he parted ways with them after the Babar Azam-led side’s poor show in the ODI World Cup 2023.
Former South African pacer Morne Morkel was appointed as India’s bowling coach last month, and in his first match as part of support staff, Indian bowlers produced a super show against Bangladesh in Chennai last week. After going wicketless in the first innings, legendary spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up six wickets in the second, and five Bangladeshi batters each were sent back to the pavilion by Jasprit Bumrah (4, 1) and Ravindra Jadeja (2, 3).
Before joining the Indian team, Morkel also served as Pakistan’s bowling coach in 2023, but his stint with the Men in Green was a forgetful one.
Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali, who has now donned the hat of an expert, has lashed out at the Men in Green stars and criticised them for disrespecting the legendary fast bowler. According to him, Pakistani bowlers consider themselves bigger than cricket.
“The Pakistani bowlers consider themselves to be bigger than cricket. They thought that Morkel was nothing in front of us,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
After India managed to get the better of Bangladesh by 280 runs in the series opener played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Basit said that there is a massive difference between the mindset of Indian and Pakistani players.
“We got to know the difference. This is the same Bangladesh played against Pakistan, where it seemed as if Pakistan were completely on the back foot. This is the same Bangladesh that whitewashed Pakistan. The difference is of mindset, thinking, and class,” he added.
Before coming to India, Bangladesh faced Pakistan in a two-match Test series, and for the first time in history, they managed to defeat the Pakistani team in the red-ball format of the game. The result became more embarrassing for the Pakistani team because the matches were played in Pakistan, and despite that, they failed to take full advantage of home conditions.
After the ongoing Test series, the second match of which is scheduled to take place at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur from Friday (September 27), Bangladesh will face India in a three-match T20I series as well, which is set to start on October 6 in Gwalior.
