The newly appointed bowling Morne Morkel had a few things to sort out before the commencement of the T20I series against Bangladesh. Indian Team players who are part of the Bangladesh T20I squad had a practice session (the first experience in nets for this series) where all-rounder Hardik Pandya was also seen bowling. Morkel was, however, not pleased with Hardik’s bowling skill and went into depth with him about the rectifications to be carried out. As per a report, Morkel was not impressed because Hardik’s line of bowling was too close to the stumps.
In Gwalior nets, Morkel was looking after Pandya’s run-up and Adil being trained on bowing actions of Hardik, before and during Even the Impact Player knew and had worked extensively with Silvassa and Singapore, according to the Indian Express report.
Even the report cited Morkel looking bothered with Pandya bowling too near the stumps and making himself clear to the cricketer. Morkel, who is not particularly energetic, stationed himself beside Hardik every time the cricketer went back to his bowling mark. Reportedly, Morkel also focused on Hardik’s release point.
After finishing with Hardik, Morkel concentrated on left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and newcomers Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav, who were called up to the T20I series for the first time.
Interestingly, India defeated Bangladesh Test series 2-0 and their focus now turns to playing a 3-match T20 series that commences on Sunday. New entrants such as Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav, who have performed brilliantly in the IPL, are expected to do well in this series as well as A B C D E etc who have been selected by the BCCI selection committee.
The likes of Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag and Nitish Kumar Reddy would also look to make the opportunity count while the series also acts as second chance for mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy who has been absent from Indian squad since a long time.