India bowling coach Morne Morkel unfazed by early Day 4 end: Rain beyond control

India Today

ENG vs IND: India bowling coach Morne Morkel explained how the side is not thinking much about the early end of what promised to be an exciting or potentially decisive Day 4 of the Oval Test against England, and that the team would rather focus on Day 5.

Transcript

00:00I think the series so far, there have been moments like that where it's sort of up and down

00:08and we finally managed to break the partnership, which was great and was important for us

00:14and it's almost like, it's always, you feel for the new batter, it's quite tough to start

00:19no matter if it's looking quite flat out there

00:23and we managed to get a bit of something in the ball, which is great for the series so far

00:29and unfortunately, yeah, the rain came in and we have to come back tomorrow

00:34Indians came charging out of the blocks in the post-tee session

00:38so what was the conversation, because earlier, a couple of days back, Rassid said that

00:43when initially things weren't going, the bottles went into a huddle, had a discussion and then things started to change in the post-match

00:49so did something similar happen?

00:51Yeah, I think it's just, you know, you can't really afford to throw Natal on a very important test match

00:59and for us it was key to, like I said, to break that partnership, get a new batter in

01:04you know, we've seen it so many times before where if you get one, you can easily get one or two

01:09and just create a bit of pressure around that

01:12so I think it wasn't, you know, no hard words or no sort of big talk

01:16it's just for us to stay calm and really work hard to break that partnership

01:20and from there just to get the ball in the right area

01:25Monique, first thing is, are you, the team was happy about it that it was almost 40 minutes, you know, for that 6.42 in the clock

01:35and they've already said that it stops and strategically on day five they will get a, you know, option of loading the weekend again

01:43so are you guys happy with that decision and the second part is how frustrating it is for you

01:47to now, you know, in the previous game, Anshul Kamboj, he didn't hold really well at that, you know, the speed point of view

01:54and then today it was Akash team, again not looking with, you know, the full throttle speeds

02:00OK, let me start with the thing, yeah, I mean, obviously, as we can see, it's pretty wet out there now

02:07it's going to take them, you know, a while to get the covers off

02:10I think the ground staff has been incredible this whole sort of test match with, you know, breaks

02:14and getting the surfaces ready to play, so, at the end of the day, that's out of our control

02:18again, tomorrow we can just focus on doing a good warm up, you know, and, yeah, get the boys ready to hopefully get the ball in the right area

02:27and, yeah, create a little bit of excitement again

02:32Yeah, Akash Deep, you know, obviously today wasn't sort of his day with the ball

02:36it's been a long series for him as well, yes, he's been in and out of the team

02:40but, yeah, I think, you know, when you've got three seamers and you have to rotate them, you know, for majority time of the day

02:48it can take his toll, and, you know, Akash is a guy that always, he runs in and gives 100%

02:53and unfortunately today, didn't quite get it right with the ball

02:56but, yeah, hopefully tomorrow morning he can bring us a little magic spell there

03:01Well, I was wondering if I could just ask you about Mohamed Siraj

03:05just what have you made of his efforts in this test and in this series

03:09he looks absolutely knackered, but he's still running in full tilt

03:13and causing all sorts of problems all day

03:16and he was also the one who was out there kind of lifting the crowd up at that moment

03:21when it really started to heat up towards the end of the day

03:24so just, can you give us a bit of an idea about him and his character and what he's done in this series and this test

03:30Yeah, I said it earlier in the test series, I'm very happy for Siraj that he's getting the recognition

03:35you know, he's a guy that in the change room will always, you know, he'll lead the ways

03:41and I think he's a natural leader, although, you know, vocally he doesn't speak a lot

03:45I think he leads a lot of actions and this series so far, he's done it with the ball at times

03:50that, you know, we've needed somebody to put his hand up and create something

03:54even if it was, you know, bowling extra two overs, three overs or creating, you know, opportunity for us

04:01he's been that guy, so, you know, he's put in the effort and it's just nice to see the rewards

04:08and, you know, today, again, at the back end, stepping up, you know, getting the support behind the team

04:15to lift us in the crucial moments, it's those sort of smart players that you need

04:18and, you know, for me, Siraj has just been outstanding.

04:23A lot of people have made the point that his average is much better when Jasper is not playing

04:29What would you put that down to?

04:31Yeah, I think it is, for him, it is, you know, recognising the moment that he is not a leader of the attack

04:37when Jasper is not playing and, you know, I'm not saying that he's shying away from that

04:42when Booms is not there, but, yeah, there's, you need to set a tone

04:47as a new ball bowler or the first change bowler where a guy has played, you know, more than 30, 40 tests

04:52so, yeah, I think he just enjoys that opportunity when it's given to him

04:58and he said it yesterday, I think, in an interview, he just loves playing for India

05:02and putting the shirt on and performing

05:04and, you know, that's what you want from you if I was a bowler

05:06in an important series, five-test series, a guy that's always willing to take, you know, take the ball

05:11and a guy is always putting his hand up to say, listen, I want to do it for the team

05:15even before the start of the test, you know, there was conversations with them

05:19just to check in how he was feeling mentally and how he was feeling physically

05:22because of the amount of overs, but he was the first guy to say, listen,

05:25I want to play this test match, I want to win it for the team

05:27so, not just the bowling front, but it's the attitude for me that is great

05:32and, you know, if you've got a guy with an attitude like that

05:35and, you know, he's willing to run in all day, I'm not surprised

05:39that's why he's got the numbers

05:41Mone, yeah Mone

05:44Yes

05:45So, you spoke about the difficulty of having to rotate three fast bowlers

05:48on a pitch where the spinners are not in play

05:51I understand batting depth is a factor in making your selection calls

05:56but since the start of Australia Series, you have not been able to

06:00or you have chosen not to play four strike bowlers for those given conditions

06:04given that then the comfort in the end

06:07so, do you, like, they did make up for it on day two

06:10with a big effort in the middle session

06:12and on three fast bowlers both through the session

06:14but on day four when you see the low energy going down

06:18do you look back at those calls, at those selection calls

06:22with, hey, at least one time we could have tried to play four strike bowlers

06:28To be honest with you, that was part of the conversation

06:31before every selection so far, you know

06:33and we just felt, leading into the test match

06:36if you look at the wicket and sort of the overhead conditions

06:39for the first three days

06:41they felt that going with the extra batter was going to be important

06:45I think, in the last two test matches

06:51our first team didn't really bowl that much

06:53because Washi and Jadeda also could then hold up an end and bowl some overs

06:59and, yeah, they just thought, okay

07:02having a lot of extra runs on the board

07:04that was more important

07:05It's just that Othseema has always been the all-rounder

07:07who's not a strike bowler

07:08which is why I was saying four strike bowlers

07:10Yeah, no, 100%

07:11that's a good question

07:12and I think that's something we'll obviously reflect on

07:15after the tour

07:16the things we could have done better

07:18I think, you know, in the same breath with Saraj Prasad

07:31I think, you know, in the same breath with Saraj Prasad

07:43is also in this tour

07:45find a bit of confidence

07:47if you looked at, you know, the first test match

07:50to where he is today

07:52his consistency, his line and length

07:55I think has improved a lot

07:57and, you know, he's a guy that I believe can be

08:00a very good test bowl of South Africa

08:02he's just a guy that needs a bit of time

08:04he just needs to be

08:05to be backed

08:06and a bit of confidence

08:07and every spell

08:08you know, he's a guy that can create that magic ball for you

08:11with the extra bounce and pace

08:12so, yeah, I think for him

08:16he's getting better and better

08:18each sort of test match he plays

08:20what was the feeling?

08:27oh, I was very happy

08:29very happy

08:30you know, Joe's given me many sleepless nights

08:33or us sleepless nights

08:34and obviously again just showed his class today

08:37yeah, so very happy when we got the back of him

08:41thank you

08:42thanks

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