Former Indian national team cricketer Zaheer Khan has spoken about current coach Gautam Gambhir’s choice of Morne Morkel as the team’s bowling coach. He was in awe of the former South Africa cricketer and said his presence would benefit the Indian team a lot.
The Indian national cricket team recently entered a new chapter after the 2024 T20 World Cup when the entire coaching staff was changed. Gautam Gambhir was appointed as the new team boss and the former India captain was given a free rein to choose his coaching staff.
Gambhir chose Abhishek Nayar as his assistant coach, along with Ryan Ten Doeschate in the same role. T Dilip was retained as the fielding coach, while the bowling coach was not named at first. During the tour of Sri Lanka, India went with NCA coach Sairaj Bahutule as the bowling coach, and it was revealed that the new coach will be announced soon.
There were reports that Zaheer Khan was among the possible candidates to be the team’s bowling coach. However, the deal fell through as the Board of Control for Cricket in India preferred Morne Morkel on the recommendation of newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Speaking about not being preferred over Morne Morkel, Zaheer Khan said that he had spent a lot of time with the former South African player. He called him a good co-worker and said that the Indian bowlers will benefit a lot. Speaking to Cricbuzz, he explained:
“Morne is someone I have spent time with in one of the franchises. He is a great lad and very good to work with. With good players in the (Indian) group, I am sure the pitchers will benefit from his presence.”
Zaheer was an incredible player for the Indian national cricket team during his playing days. He played 92 Test matches, 200 ODIs and 17 T20Is for India. The player also played a very important role for the team in the 2011 World Cup victory where he was the team’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
Retention should be there – Zaheer Khan
On Wednesday, August 28, Zaheer Khan was appointed as the mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants. The Indian legend was asked about the retention policy in the Indian Premier League. He said that retention is a necessity as it allows teams to have the right balance and the rule should be there.
“Yes, because it’s about continuity. There has to be a proper balance,” he said.It is also a very young league compared to other leagues in the world, so it is about identifying what those milestones will be that they are looking at.Until then, I’m sure the hold should be there.”
Zaheer Khan is also an IPL veteran, with 100 matches under his belt. He played for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Mumbai Indians.
Zaheer played his last IPL match in 2017. He was also part of Mumbai Indians’ coaching staff in the league.