Morkel worked with both Mayank and Prince in Lucknow Super Giants setup.
The Indian T20I squad will have Arshdeep Singh leading the pace attack with Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav, with Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy as the pace-bowling all-rounders. India will be coming into this T20I series after winning the gold medal in the Asian Games 2026.
Focus will be on Mayank Yadav, who made his India return against Zimbabwe in the T20I series, after almost two years due to injuries. On the other hand, Prince Yadav, after impressing in IPL 2026, made his India debut in ODIs and T20Is.
Mayank and Prince are both Lucknow Super Giants players, and Morkel was the team's bowling coach in the past. However, Prince was a net bowler up to that point.
“If you look at Mayank, immediately what comes to mind is his pace, his X-factor. I think for me, Prince, who was a net bowler a couple of years ago, he's now playing for India. That resilience, the hard work he's put into his game to reach the international stage, is admirable.
So, for me, that shows that these guys are hard-working players. Mayank had a couple of setbacks with injury and back-to-back setbacks for a young player to get through, and then again find themselves in a situation to play for India just shows attitude. At the end of the day, you want guys here that are in a squad or playing for India that have fantastic attitudes and that are keen to work and keep on working hard, because those guys will deliver for the team,” Morkel said on the eve of the first T20I in Lucknow.
Morkel also talked about not being able to spend a long period of time with Mayank and Prince due to international cricket commitments. There is too much international cricket, and the rotation policy is invariably at play.
“They're both young; they're still sort of learning their trade. I think sometimes the challenge is that you have them for a small window of time, and then they go away a little bit. Although we keep in touch and we stay connected to them, it's hard to keep your personal touch as a bowling coach.
So, then you have to come back, and then we work on a couple of things. So I think that's a way that we can sort of try in the future to make it better. But obviously now we've got such a fantastic pool of players, and these guys, they do well when they go back to their states. But I'm excited now to see how they go with this opportunity given,” Morkel said.
(ANI inputs)