The newly-appointed Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir has reportedly requested Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to rope in former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel as the bowling coach.
After succeeding Rahul Dravid, who ended his stint as a head coach after guiding Team India to the T20 World Cup triumph, Gautam Gambhir set some demands to the BCCI to strengthen the coaching staff. Earlier, it was reported that Gambhir told BCCI that he wanted the freedom to choose his own coaching staff.
Firstly, Gautam Gambhir recommended Ryan ten Doeschate and Abhishek Nayar as the assistant and batting coaches, respectively. Now, the former India captain wanted Morne Morket to be part of his coaching staff of Team India. As per the report by Cricbuzz, BCCI have held discussions with former South African pacer. However, the board is yet to take a final call on having Morne Morkel as the bowling coach.
Gautam Gambhir and Morne Morkel have known each other well since playing together for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Morket played for KKR from 2014 to 2016 when the Gambhir was the captain. The duo later reunited at the Lucknow Super Giants, where Gambhir served as a mentor and Morkel as a bowling coach.
Morne Morkel was the bowling coach of Pakistan in the last year's ODI World Cup in India but resigned from his position alongside Mickey Arthur and other coaching staff as his contract neared expiration.
T Dilip likely to continue as fielding coach
Along with Rahul Dravid, Vikram Rathour and Param Mhambrey's stints as batting and bowling coach also came to an end after India's T20 World Cup triumph. However, T Dilip is likely to continue as a fielding coach for Team India.
Dilip played a very crucial in helping the players improve their fielding skills and maintaining high standard of fielding performance throughout the T20 World Cup. He even introduced the 'Best Fielder' medal in order to motivate players to give their best on the field.
Since BCCI likely to retain T Dilip as the fielding coach, Ryan ten Doeschate can be roped in as the assistant coach as per the demand by Gautam Gambhir. Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar are too in consideration for the bowling coach for Team India.
