Really blown away by how Indian bowlers’ take their things professionally, says Morne Morkel

New Delhi: After taking charge as India’s new bowling coach, former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel said he was really blown away by how the bowlers’ went about their way in day one of their preparation for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh.

After the first Test in Chennai concludes on September 23, the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur will host the second Test from September 27 to October 1. Both matches between India and Bangladesh are a part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, where India are on top of the table with 68.52 percentage points, while Bangladesh are at fourth place, with 45.83 percentage points.

“Today’s goal was about getting an understanding about the guys, their strengths, their weaknesses and help a little bit by setting and planting little seeds for the goals for the upcoming series. The guys did really well. I was blown away about how they went about things, how professional they were. So that’s a good sign and hopefully, we can build on that,” said Morkel in a video posted on bcci.tv.

Armed with 12 years of experience of representing South Africa across all three formats, Morkel thinks one of his challenges as India’s bowling coach will be to ensure the bowlers’ have a sense of belonging and feel mentally relaxed in the team, which in turn will produce the best performances. “It’s one thing, having the talent and the skill, but how can you make those guys feel welcome in an intimidating sort of environment? Playing for India and wearing the blue shirt, there are a lot of expectations.”

“So for me, having that experience and going through that, thus passing on that sort of knowledge and helping them to settle and also feel at home, because I think as soon as a player has that comfortability that they belong and feel comfortable in this space, the performances will come.”

“So it’s about looking after that and from there, up-skill and get them up to the standard and feel ready to take up this challenge. I understand and I know there’s always going to be expectations of winning and stuff like that. Luckily I’ve experienced it in my playing days so that I can share that knowledge. When I was sitting on the plane, I’d reflect on these things.”

Morkel further describes the Indian side with Gautam Gambhir as the head coach as a set-up that ‘operates by itself’, mainly due to the presence of senior players. “We’re so lucky in this team to have quality senior players as they’ll lead the charge and it’s our responsibility to support them and just give them the best sort of advice that we can give. But coming out here, this is a setup where it sort of operates by itself, so to protect that and make it better in small ways is always going to be the goal.”

Morkel signed off on a light note by sharing his favourite Indian food items, though he admitted about setting an example for other bowlers by eating healthy dishes. "I like a bit of Puri. For breakfast, I obviously love my dosas, then murgh malai chicken, and Naan breads. But I think it's also important as a coach that you need to eat healthy and the rest of the players will follow."