Why Morne Morkel’s impact as Team India’s bowling coach has yet to match Bharat Arun’s success? A quick comparison between Bharat Arun and Morne Morkel’s tenure.
Team India’s fast bowling under bowling coach Morne Morkel has all been about Jasprit Bumrah. The pacer has been leading the fast-bowling attack single-handedly while other pacers have flattered to deceive. Morkel, who was one of the best strike bowlers in his playing days, has not been able to make India a lethal pace unit, barring Bumrah who is in a different league altogether. A look at India’s fast bowlers’ performances under Morkel shows a wide gap between Bumrah and other pacers.
Bumrah- the lone shining spot under Morkel
India have fielded seven pacers in Tests under Morkel since he took over as bowling coach in August 2024. Jasprit Bumrah has been a class act under Morkel’s tenure so far, averaging 16.20 and taking 51 wickets with 4 five-wicket hauls in 19 Test innings. Also, Bumrah conceded less than 3 runs per over during this phase. But all other pacers average above 36 and conceding over 3.5 runs per over during this phase, barring 4-Tests-old Prasidh Krishna who averages around 29. None of the other pacers has taken a single five-wicket haul during this phase. All the heavy load has been done by Bumrah himself. The pacer has managed to camouflage his co-pacers’ poor performance with his heroics with the ball during this phase.
Here’s how India pacers have performed under Morkel so far:
India’s fast bowlers on top under Bharat Arun as bowling coach
In comparison, during India’s golden period in Tests under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, Ravi Shastri as coach, and Bharat Arun as bowling coach, India’s fast bowlers were on top of their game, and enjoyed a healthy competition between them.
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Shami leads the attack under Bharat Arun’s tenure
It wasn’t Bumrah but Mohammed Shami who was the leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers in Tests under Bharat Arun’s tenure as bowling coach, which ran from 2017 to 2021. Six out of seven pacers, who played at least 15 Test innings or more under Arun, enjoyed a bowling average of under 30. The seven bowlers took as many as 17 five-wicket hauls combined.
It was not just the story of Shami and Bumrah during this phase. Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav, who have now been discarded, were consistently delivering results under Arun’s tenure.
Here’s a look at how India pacers performed under Arun’s tenure as bowling coach:
However, if the fast-bowling numbers are combined during the two coaches’ tenure, there isn’t much difference in terms of average, economy and strike rate. It was Bumrah’s over-production that camouflaged the under-production of other fast bowlers during Morkel’s tenure.
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Here’s how fast bowlers performed under the two coaches:
So, what went wrong under Morkel’s tenure?
Morkel has not been able to find any other good supporting bowler for Bumrah who could create pressure, and draw mistakes from batters. With Shami not in full fitness after a year of recovery from surgery, the onus fell on Mohammed Siraj, but the latter has been off-colour for some time. Meanwhile, Krishna and Shardul Thakur are still trying to get used to the English conditions and the perfect line and length to bowl at the opponents.
It was also to India’s disadvantage that no conscious steps were made to test out reserve bench strength. The likes of Avesh Khan, and Khaleel Ahmed, and even Arshdeep Singh were left untested in Tests under Morkel. The lack of foresight to identify a pool of fast bowlers who could hunt in pairs is coming to haunt India, under Morkel as bowling coach.
The way forward
Morkel has not been able to produce the desired results. It is thanks to Bumrah’s heroics that other pacers’ under-performance has been kept under the carpet. India could look to move on from Morkel, and get in experienced former fast bowlers such as Zaheer Khan or Ashish Nehra to take over as bowling coach.
Read More: Bumrah proving to be a one-man army for India in Tests; What’s ailing his support cast?
