Bowling coach Morne Morkel has urged India’s transitioning pace attack to remain "street-smart" as they navigate Sri Lankan conditions without spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the upcoming two-Test series, slated to begin on August 15 in Galle.
The visitors will have a relatively inexperienced fast bowling unit barring Mohammed Siraj, with Prasidh Krishna having featured in only seven Tests and Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi yet to make their debuts.
However, Morkel is excited by the challenge and he believes the attack has the necessary skill to succeed in the island nation.
“I think it’s exciting. All these guys have come a long way with their skill. Not so long ago in the A side, Gurnoor (Brar) was very successful, so he knows, sort of, he’s got an idea about the conditions. Prasidh, Siraj, they’ve played a lot of cricket back home, where it’s also tough bowling conditions,” Morkel told reporters on Thursday (August 13).
“I think coming here, our skill is there, the planning will be there, but the biggest challenge will be the heat and humidity. The ball will go softer after 20-35 overs. Expect that. But what is our next step? To be street-smart in terms of how we’re going to use the crease, how we’re going to use our short ball. All those conditions and all those sort of situations we need to be able to sum up quite quickly. And then execute it with a lot of energy and go into those areas,” he added.
India's spin unit, featuring Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain, had a highly productive outing in the warm-up fixture. While Jadeja, Kuldeep, Suthar and Saransh bowled 15, 18, 13 and 11 overs in the first innings, the quartet collectively bowled 27 overs in the second essay.
Morkel stressed that each spinner brings something different to the table, and the attack is potent enough to claim 20 wickets.
“Kuldeep is there. He’s an attacking sort of bowler for us. Jadeja, his experience and class, we can’t look past him. I think for us, they’re all different in their way. One turns a bit more; one is slightly more accurate. I don’t think it’s a massive concern for us (on the possibility of playing three spinners). It’s just how Shubman (Gill) is going to use those guys at certain times. But yeah, in terms of skill, they’ve got the skill there to get the 20 wickets for us.”
“Traditionally, if you look at the venue, the stats and how it’s been played out, that’s sort of the way to go (playing three spinners). I think the way that we go with our spin bowling attack, our spinners, it’s a very attacking option. You can create pressure with seam from one side and always allow yourself with spin to operate from the other end. It looked like a good surface, and I think as the Test match will go on, something will start to happen. For us, we’ve prepared basically for all that can come our way,” the bowling coach remarked.
Morne Morkel also highlighted the difficulty of maintaining bowling intensity and pressure with a softening Kookaburra ball, especially for an attack lacking recent red-ball match practice.
“The Kookaburra ball, once it gets softer. How we can stack up overs together with intensity and create that pressure. We haven’t played a lot of red-ball cricket in the last couple of months, and going back into that is going to be a challenge. That’s something I’m quite excited about, and we’re quite excited to see how these guys can stand up and form those partnerships and create that pressure,” he stated.
