India bowling coach Morne Morkel believes young opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can make significant strides simply by being around an experienced Indian dressing room, urging the teenager to observe, ask questions and absorb the habits of established players as India begin their five-match T20I series against West Indies here on Tuesday.
India will also carry the confidence of their Asian Games campaign, where they won the men’s T20 gold medal. India enter the T20I leg after winning the preceding three-match ODI series 2-1, although the West Indies finished that contest on a high by taking the final game at New Chandigarh.
And I think with him sharing that sort of dressing room and talking to guys, or just actually watching how the guys go through their processes and how they set up innings, will be key for him,” Morkel said in the pre-match press conference in Lucknow on Monday. “Yeah, I mean, we all know the talent of Ivan. I think the more time he spends in this environment with the quality players, the more time he trains at this standard, will only be great for his cricket. And if he’s not getting that game time, he’s still on a bus, in the dugout, in the hotel with guys with a lot of experience.
I mean, I’m a fast bowler; I can’t really talk too much about batting, but I always ask him on the bus, ‘ What’s one thing you’ve learned today? “I’m a big believer that sometimes, if you put guys in the right environment and they can ask the right questions and they can observe. When the wicket is doing stuff, what sort of game plan does he come up with? And for any young player, if he gets game time or if that game time is a little limited, it’s still our job to make sure that these guys learn, they grow, and they ask questions. “I think that for me is a fantastic growth sort of mind map. Tell me, what did you think about that guy’s batting? And that makes him think. And I think next time when he comes to nets, those sort of things he’ll observe; he’ll adapt to his game,” he added. “I’m pretty sure Gautam will look to rotate. “I mean, if you look at Mayank, immediately that comes to mind is his pace, his X-factor. I think for me, Prince, where he was a net bowler a couple of years ago, he’s now playing for India. “For me, that shows that these guys are hardworking players. Mayank had a couple of setbacks with injury, back-to-back setbacks with that; for a young player to get through that, and then again to find themselves in the situation to play for India just shows character. Of course, we’ll look at all the players, we’ll come up with plans, but I think that is the winning moment in white-ball cricket—is that decision under pressure as a bowler with a captain. What’s the best decision you can make, and can you execute that? That execution could become even more important against a West Indies side known for aggressive batting. Morkel expects both teams to have to read conditions quickly rather than rely solely on pre-match plans. “Yeah, look, I mean, I just walked past the square now; I haven’t had a proper look at the wicket. We’ll assess sort of the conditions as best as possible tonight. We understand that in this series it’s going to be a high-scoring game.
So I always challenge them; I say, watch what this guy is doing in training, how does he face his first 15 balls? I mean, as I said, that is up to the selectors, and obviously the coach and the captain in terms of the playing 11, or which playing 11 will be the best to win a game for India on home soil. “In terms of the starting 11, as I said, the guys just came back from the Asian Games, so we’ll assess how everybody is feeling after jet lag, after travelling, and then from there make a plan.
Morkel said he also encourages the young batter to reflect on what he has learnt from each training session. And that will always be the main focus,” Morkel said. That resilience, the hard work that he’s put into his game to reach international stages, is admirable,” Morkel said. “Like I said, the strength of this team moving forward will be how individuals can, at the moment, adapt to some of the conditions and how they can execute that. Your skills will be tested; execution, most importantly, will be tested,” he said.
