India's bowling coach Morne Morkel expects the batting unit to lift its performance under pressure in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan
Abhishek Sharma's flamboyance will meet its match in Shaheen Shah Afridi's precision in what promises to be an "edge of the seat" battle in the Asia Cup final on Sunday.
'We knew it won't be easy to hit how much you may connect. Plan was to bowl smartly and when a batter is set, force him to hit on the bigger sides than small sides.'
Countering Bumrah before spinners come into play will be key for SA: Graeme Smith
Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach, is delighted to have Mohammed Shami back in the squad and hinted at a possible return for the veteran pacer in the fifth T20 International against England in Mumbai on Sunday.
This happened following India's practice session that saw both India's senior batters hit the nets at the Optus Stadium.
The others to arrive after a delayed flight were K L Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy along with some members of the support staff.
Shubman Gill's form in the series is a concern for India as he has now gone six games without a half-century.
India suffered a major pre-match blow in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan as star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was ruled out of the title-deciding clash in Dubai due to a niggle.
'Pretty amazing. The whole tournament, we remained unbeaten, it feels pretty amazing to be in this position.'
The 39 year-old has played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is for South Africa with a total of 544 international wickets.
Morne Morkel, has revealed his newfound love for Indian cuisine, particularly dosas and murgh malai chicken.
Indian Test skipper Shubman Gill spoke on the team dinner hosted by head coach Gautam Gambhir on Thursday
Morne Morkel isn't here to shake things up. He sees the Indian cricket system as a well-oiled machine, and his goal is to help it run even smoother.
'Gautam Gambhir and Morne Morkel will need to provide Rohit with more inputs like whether to bowl bouncers or bowl round the wicket or whether we are allowing the game to drift.'
'Tomorrow we can just focus on doing a good warm-up, get the boys ready to hopefully get the ball in the right area and create a little bit of excitement again.'
The 'Impact Player' in IPL might have restricted Chennai Super Kings' Shivam Dube's role but 'India's Shivam Dube' aspires to be a full-fledged all-rounder backed by head coach Gautam Gambhir and helped by bowling coach Morne Morkel.
Seldom has an India vs Pakistan clash played with such a volatile backdrop, where cricket seems inseparably knotted with off-field tension, provocative gestures, and fines slapped on both camps.
Prasidh Krishna has the ability to bowl "magic balls" and the pacer needs to be given an extended run to serve India for a long time, said bowling coach Morne Morkel in London on Sunday.
'Yeah, 100 per cent. That's a good question, and I think that's something we'll obviously reflect on after the tour, the things we could have done better.'
With the much-anticipated Group A clash against arch-rivals Pakistan looming, India is sparing no effort in their training sessions, honing skills and strategising tactics.
Earlier, warm-up routines had players darting through shuttle runs and high knees before bats were unsheathed.
The batters' constant failure in making runs in the first innings is costing the team dear, admitted bowling coach Morne Morkel even as India are in danger of losing the first Test series at home since 2012-13.
Abhishek Sharma's brutal yet beautiful stroke-play was the highlight of India's optional net session on Tuesday
'He leads a lot of actions. And in this series so far, he's done it with the ball at times that we've needed somebody to put his hand up and create something.'
'He has been working hard on his bowling. This was a perfect game for him.'
And ahead of the 4th Test, some members of the Indian team went all out at a gym training session.
Defending champions India had a full-fledged practice session at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Friday as they put the finishing touches to their Asia Cup preparations.
India's pace great Zaheer Khan is reportedly set to part ways with Lucknow Super Giants after just one season as their mentor.
Siraj took a six wicket haul in the first innings and got rid of Zak Crawley in the final hour on day five.
The Oval will host the fifth and final Test between India and England from Thursday, and the Indian team has hit the ground running two days after staging a remarkable comeback to draw the fourth match in Manchester.
This brings us to the question of combination and perhaps Arshdeep could miss out on more games going into the T20 World Cup -- a tournament that will be held in the sub-continent -- India and Sri Lanka.
The usually mobbed Indian cricket team likes training in a relaxed atmosphere and that was evident in their body language as the players went about their business in their only practice session at the Kent County Cricket Ground before the fourth Test in Manchester.
Mohammed Siraj's match-winning spell in The Oval Test reminded us all what Test cricket -- and fast bowling -- is truly about: Discipline, endurance, and unwavering grit, says Aadharsh A V.
Since he took over, head coach Gautam Gambhir has stressed on multi-skilled players across formats, especially those who can add batting depth.
Morkel said Mayank's recent start in bowling shows promising progress, with efforts now directed towards hitting the 150 kmph mark consistently.
Cheteshwar Pujara was the cornerstone of the Indian batting line-up in Tests, featuring in 103 matches in which he scored 7,195 runs at an average of 43.60, with 19 centuries.
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said training with the two-coloured balls helps in eliminating white ball tendencies from the red ball game.
Soon after gently rolling his arm over in the field of play, Akash Deep cut a forlorn figure as uncapped Anshul Kamboj and Prasidh Krishna bowled full tilt at India's first outdoor training session ahead of the fourth Test.
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