Morne Morkel, the Indian bowling coach, hinted that the Indian attack could be tinkered with in the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup, the first of which is against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. “Yeah, definitely we discuss options in terms of how we’re going to approach our bowling innings against different teams. I think it’s important to stay awake and to keep on looking for ways that we can strike better and where we can have guys attacking specific batters.”
The former South Africa spearhead, meanwhile, is happy with the progress of Shivam Dube the bowler. “With Shivam, I think any bowler, we like confidence. You want to feel the backing. This journey started almost more than a year ago, when we gave him the responsibility to bowl for us in Dubai in the Asia Cup and to bowl the first over. I think as soon as you feel that environment, you feel that you get backed by, first, the captain, the coach and the staff.
“From there, life becomes a little bit easier. You don’t have to try and prove yourself. You don’t have to try too hard. He’s got a lot of skill with the ball, with variations. When I catch him, he hits the mitt quite hard. For him, it was just a matter of building that confidence and polishing up when to use his variations. I think he has a very good understanding of conditions. He can read the conditions very well. As a power-hitter himself, he will work out what is the hardest and toughest ball to bowl.
“I think having that game sense and just giving him the backing, and to say, ‘Listen, if you go for the boundary, it’s okay. You have a potential guy that can pick up that wicket fast.’ He can bring us control with the ball in terms of his execution. It’s very good. We slowly just developed that and gave him the confidence. There were some times where I could see him walking off the field disappointed at not having a bowl.”
