‘He’s a very experienced player’ – Morne Morkel backs Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion despite poor outing in Brisbane.
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The ongoing third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane is proving to be yet another disappointing outing for the Indians, who were completely dominated by the Aussie batters on Day 2. Apart from a fifer from Jasprit Bumrah none of the bowlers looked frightening against the likes of Steve Smith and Travis Head who were looking in great form during the match scoring centuries and playing a huge role in getting the side in a strong position at the end of Day 2.
Meanwhile, India’s bowling coach and former South African pacer Morne Morkel backed Rohit Sharma’s decision of bowling first and for the Gabba encounter. The performance from India though, led to a lot of criticism of the decisions made by the skipper Rohit Sharma for opting to bowl first on what seemed to be a flat track with not a lot of swing, seam, or spin for the bowlers. The bowling coach gave his views on the decision to field first and completely backed Rohit’s decision.
“I just thought, looking at the surface, if we can get the ball in the right area we can take wickets. Controlling the run-rate for a big part of the game and staying patient was key. If we could have added one or two wickets earlier, bowling first would have worked perfectly,” said Morkel at the press conference post Day 2.
Morkel backs Jadeja
The decision to back Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar was another questionable decision as well. This also did not manage to make a difference as Jadeja did not pose a challenge for the Aussie batters, but it turns out the bowling coach had no problem with this decision as well.
“Jaddu (Jadeja), coming into this match, didn’t have a lot of game time, but he’s also a guy who has taken a lot of Test wickets. He’s a very experienced player, and we just felt we wanted to bring in the left-arm option as something different, you know, sitting with Rohit. Jaddu is a guy that can also offer us a lot with the bat, unfortunately, today if you know it wasn’t his day as a spinner,” Morkel added.
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