Morne Morkel appointed India bowling coach, tenure to start from September 1

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Former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel has been appointed the bowling coach of senior India men's team. His contract is set to start from September 1, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has confirmed to Cricbuzz.

That means that Morkel will be part of the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian cricket team coaching staff in the upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh in September.

Former India all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and former Netherlands international Ryan ten Doeschate joined the Indian cricket team as assistant coaches during their tour of Sri Lanka. T Dilip has continued as the fielding coach from the previous Rahul Dravid regime.

“This is the crux of the coaching staff. But we have a lot of time. We will have time after the Sri Lanka series. I have had some really good feedback from the players. I hope Abhishek and Ryan have a successful stint as coaches.” head coach Gautam Gambhir had said while confirming the appointments of Nayar and Ten Doeschate ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.

While Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate have worked with Gautam Gambhir at KKR previously, Morkel worked with the head coach at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL. He has also played under Gambhir at KKR in the past.

39-year-old Morne Morkel was appointed Pakistan bowling coach in June last year, but left six weeks before the expiry of contract, following Pakistan's poor run in the Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023.

Morkel, who is now an Australian citizen, played 86 Test matches for South Africa and picked 309 wickets. He also featured in 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is, picking 188 and 47 wickets respectively. The former right-arm pacer also played 70 IPL matches in which he picked 77 wickets.