Former Proteas bowler Morne Morkel is a new addition for Gautam Gambhir in the India Cricket Team support staff. Morkel is the fourth support staff member to join the Men in Blue. Morkel has been appointed as the new bowling coach and his contract is set to begin from the 1st September. But things can’t be easy breezy for Gambhir for a quite a few reasons. Let us delve into details down below.
Under Rahul Dravid’s reign, Team India had 3 support staff members – Paras Mhambrey, T Dilip and Vikram Rathour. But now under Gautam Gambhir, the dynamics have changed. Currently Gambhir has got the wish that he so dearly hoped. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate joined as the assistant coaches.
Gambhir gets his preferred staff
On the other hand, T Dilip was retained as the fielding coach while Morne Morkel has now been appointed as the new bowling coach for the Men in Blue. But the major problem is that along with Gambhir, the rest of the support staff is equally inexperienced in coaching a big side like India.
Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment came in the IND vs SL series. While the Men in Blue won 3-0 in the T20I series, they were also handed a 2-0 loss in the ODI series, While these are not worrying signs, it can be a recipe for disaster in the coming days.
Gambhir wanted to take Abhishek Nayar from the beginning. The KKR connection has played handy for Nayar in getting the job. Nayar served as the batting coach for Kolkata Knight Riders where his bonding grew with Gambhir. And now Nayar has joined the Team India head coach as the assistant coach.
Ryan Ten Doeschate is another KKR connection. During his playing days, Ryan Ten Doeschate played with Gambhir when the former India star captained the Kolkata outfits. The Dutch joined Team India in Sri Lanka on his first assignment as the assistant coach of Team India.
And that is not all, Morne Morkel was another candidate which Gambhir wanted. Gambhir had a good connection with the former South Africa star during his mentoring stint at Lucknow Super Giants in IPL.
Now while this move can be loved by fans claiming Gambhir is bringing in the people whom he knows best, it also has the potential to serve his downfall. These new coaches are relatively new and coaching a big team like India can be a big mistake. Furthermore, this is also Gambhir’s first coaching job as he has previously worked as mentor for other teams.
The focus for Gambhir and Co would be to delivery good results. Come the end of the year, it will be the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The next year, there will be the ICC Champions Trophy followed by the WTC Finals in the summer.
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