India’s new bowling coach Morne Morkel was not short of a few challenges before the T20I series against Bangladesh. In the team’s first nets, all-rounder Hardik Pandya was bowling, but Morkel reportedly felt that Hardik was not holding it in proper technique. The duo had a long conversation to address the necessary corrections while Morkel observed that Hardik was bowling too close to the stumps.
In Gwalior, Morkel worked more on Pandya’s run-up, especially seeing all-rounder shadow-practiced his bowling action. As the Indian Express report says: Morkel was not pleased with Pandya’s proximity to the stumps and saw to it that he communicated it to him. Though Morkel is not known to be very talkative at the first place, he was advising Hardik every time he got back to his bowling mark. At Gwalior, the coach worked on refining Hardik’s release point, as well.
Later, Morkel got his hands on the left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and some new faces in Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav, who have been included for the T20I series.
India have recently wrapped up the Test series against Bangladesh 2-0 and would now look to take their winning momentum into the three-match T20I series starting Sunday. Youngsters like Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav will be eager to tap their potential after producing something impressive in the IPL. Others, including Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, look to cash in on this opportunity as Varun Chakravarthy looks to reclaim his place in the T20I squad after a long wait.
India’s T20 Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy, Jitesh Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav.