Morne Morkel spills out chatter in Indian camp after two days were washed out in Kanpur: ‘How can we push this…’
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Team India bowling coach Morne Morkel was impressed with the way Rohit Sharma and Co. played a dominant brand of cricket on Day 4 after around two and a half days of play was washed out earlier in the Test. With World Test Championship points at stake, the Indian batters decided to go all guns blazing after bundling out Bangladesh for 233 in the first innings. India reached 50 runs in three overs, 100 in 10.1 and 200 in 24.2 -- the fastest ever by a test team -- in their bid to force a result in a Test which has lost more than two days' play to bad weather.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (72) and KL Rahul (68) smashed blistering half-centuries as India declared their first innings for 285/9 and took a crucial 52-run lead.
Morkel was not surprised at all to see Indian batters adopting a fearless batting approach to give themselves a chance to get a win from the Test with just two days left in the contest.
"That was our message this morning, you know, with losing two days of the match... that positive intent was going to be key," India's bowling coach Morne Morkel told reporters.
"Two days left in the Test, there is still a lot of cricket it was important to show that intent. The way the boys went to the ball up-front, it was incredible to see. We created the pressure (with the ball) and brought wickets, and then to show the intent with the bat was awesome," he added.
Morkel, who joined the Indian team coaching staff ahead of this series, feels that the Bangladesh bowling attack was stunned by the hosts' batting approach.
"I don't think as a bowling unit, they expected that to happen. It was always a part of our game plan to see, how can we push this going forward? And how can we get the winning result?” he added.
Losing time was very frustrating: Morkel
A combination of inclement weather and wet outfield had resulted in two full days of inaction, but Morkel said his wards kept themselves ready for action.
“It's never nice losing time and days. I knew the boys sitting around the hotel, that was sort of very frustrating. But the way the guys went off the field, still doing their gym work, looking after their bodies, was impressive to see for me coming into the group. We knew, once we get the opportunity, we're always going to look at the positive way and how we can impact that. Throughout the day, we showed the intent that we're going to play,” he noted.
