First some hard numbers… As Australia posted 445 in their first innings at the Gabba, India’s bowling – Jasprit Bumrah aside – cut a sorry figure. Mohammed Siraj bowled 23.2 overs, gave away 97 runs and took two wickets. Akash Deep returned with 1/95 from 29.5 overs. Against Travis Head’s assault, the two fast bowlers, and also Ravindra Jadeja (0/95, 23 overs), looked clueless.
At the end of the second day’s play, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel came for the press conference and claimed that the team had a plan against Head & Co. Unfortunately, it was not visible. He even spoke about how the seamers need to do better while operating with an older ball.
“They (Head and Steve Smith) put on a partnership on the board there, put us under pressure with a softer ball,” Morkel told reporters. “So it’s definitely an area that we need to focus on. Maybe, deeper in the innings… In terms of game plans, yes we have got the game plans, but are we executing those game plans with a softer ball from both ends, that’s something we need to discuss and get better at.”
It felt like passing the buck. Compare Morkel’s comment with Bharat Arun’s, who, along with Ravi Shastri, masterminded Australia’s downfall in the 2020-21 series. “Ravi called up and said ‘I want you to make a plan where you eliminate the off-side out of the Australians,” Arun, then India’s bowling coach, had said after the memorable series win Down Under. “He (Shastri) said we will attack straighter lines and have an on-side field so it is very difficult for batsmen to be consistently clearing the on-side fields. That really worked for us.”
Steve Smith ended the series with an average of 44.71. David Warner’s average was 16.75. Marnus Labuschagne scored runs (average 53.25), but India hardly allowed him to make a decisive intervention. In the last Test, when the tourists breached the fortress Gabba, India’s bowling resources were down to Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan, Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar. But the callow group stood up to be counted, because they had a clear plan, and the vision of their bowling coach to fall back on.
“Why would you appoint someone like Morkel as India’s bowling coach,” a Mumbai cricket old hand told this correspondent in a touch scornful way. “If he is that good, then how come no one in South Africa thought about appointing him?”
Morkel had a very good Test career – 309 wickets at 27.66 from 86 matches. Coaching, however, is a different ball game altogether. Arun didn’t have a successful international career, but he is arguably India’s best-ever bowling coach. From Ishant Sharma to Ravichandran Ashwin and Siraj; players will attest to that.
Morkel had a brief stint as Pakistan’s bowling coach, but his contract was terminated after the team’s group-stage exit from the 2024 ODI World Cup. He was Lucknow Super Giants’ bowling coach. Then again, white-ball cricket, where the bowlers have a four-over quota, is a different proposition.
The Indian fast-bowling cupboard looks bare. Mohammed Shami is walking wounded. His career seems to have entered the twilight zone. Siraj is struggling to reach the next level. At the moment, Bumrah leads a one-man army. The younger fast bowlers, Harshit Rana for example, need someone to mother-hen them and make them ready for the longer format. Arun was brilliant at developing youngsters. Does Morkel have it in him? Maybe, there are better options available in India.
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