Morne Morkel won’t be Team India’s bowling coach for the upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. The South African fast bowler, who worked alongside new head coach Gautam Gambhir at the Lucknow Super Giants, will likely join the Men in Blue after the 6-match series, which ends on August 7. According to Cricbuzz, in his absence, the BCCI has named Sairaj Bahutule as the interim bowling coach.
Sairaj Bahutule: Tried & tested coach
Bahutule has ample experience, having worked with Kerala in 2014, Bengal in 2015, and India A in 2021. He’s also been part of the Rajasthan Royals setup, having joined the IPL franchise as their spin bowling coach for a short stint in 2018. The 51-year-old, who’s a domestic great, is currently working alongside VVS Laxman at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) as the spin bowling coach since 2021.
He’s also been part of India’s support staff on multiple occasions in the past couple of years. The most recent of which is the India vs Zimbabwe T20I series. He’s travelled with the India to Ireland and New Zealand as well and was part of the Border-Gavaskar series as well.
Bahutale will work alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir, assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, and fielding coach T Dilip for the white-ball tour, which starts on July 27. The 51-year-old will leave for Sri Lanka with the players and the coaches on July 22, a few hours after Gambhir and BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar’s pre-departure press conference.
Morkel is likely to join the Indian team before the upcoming India vs Bangladesh Tests at home. Due to some personal reasons, the fast bowler has made himself unavailable for the Sri Lanka tour and will join the team before the Test series starts on September 19.
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Picked for Sri Lankan pitches
He’s also played 10 matches for India (2 Tests and 10 ODIs) and has over 630 wickets and 6176 runs in first-class cricket. The former all-rounder piped Troy Cooley, another bowling coach at the NCA, due to his expertise in spin and given how it’ll be a huge factor on Sri Lanka’s pitches.
Bahutale will work with all the bowlers, but as a leg spinner, he’ll be of most use to Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav. Other spinners like Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and Riyan Parag can also lean towards him for some valuable assistance.
India ODI & T20I squad for Sri Lanka series
T20I: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
ODI : Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
India vs Sri Lanka T20I & ODI schedule
| Format | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1st T20I | Pallekele | 27th July |
| 2nd T20I | Pallekele | 28th July |
| 3rd T20I | Pallekele | 30th July |
| 1st ODI | Colombo | 2nd August |
| 2nd ODI | Colombo | 4th August |
| 3rd ODI | Colombo | 7th August |
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