Team India bowling coach Morne Morkel has come out in support of the Indian talismanic opening batter Rohit Sharma to overcome his poor form in the ongoing England ODI series, adding that there were ‘no worries and concerns’ over his form ahead of the series decider at Lord’s on Sunday.
Notably, Rohit Sharma could score 11 and 26 in the first two ODIs of the ongoing England series. However, the Lord’s ODI offers Hitman one final opportunity to end the three-match series on a good note.
“Rohit, as I said earlier, it is hard work with a new ball up front. We have seen that in the entire series. The ball is moving around. So batting up front, it is not easy. No doubt Rohit will work it out. He has done it in the past. He is experienced. And he just brings that calmness to the batting line-up. So without a doubt, no worries and concerns at all with the way he is going about things,” Morkel said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
Notably, the BCCI Selection Committee has included Harsh Dubey as Washington Sundar’s replacement in the squad for the series decider. However, Morkel has emphasized that all options will remain open over who would replace the all-rounder in the playing XI.
“I think as I sit here, all options are on the table. We literally arrived here now half an hour ago. So I am pretty sure Gautam (Gambhir) will have a look at the surface, and they probably will announce 12 or 13 guys and then tomorrow make the final call in terms of overhead, in terms of what we see then. But yeah, I think at the moment all the players are still in line for selection for tomorrow,” he added.
Furthermore, Morkel has insisted that the Indian bowlers bowled exceptionally well in the second ODI. However, he reckoned that Joe Root’s innings turned the tide towards the hosts as they levelled the series 1-1.
“I thought, to be honest with you, the way we bowled in the last game was exceptional,” Morkel said.
“Just looking at the numbers, the high speeds that the boys are generating, the areas that we have bowled on in operating was great to see. We have gone with the thinking that we wanted to use Prasidh (Krishna) and Gurnoor (Brar) there with that extra bounce in that middle phase,” he observed.
“Crucial it is to get those wickets in the middle phase, like you just mentioned. So we will keep on working on ways and trying to find how we can make those breakthroughs. I thought Joe played exceptionally well, classy innings there. So, in terms of tomorrow, how are we going to go about it, we have got a couple of plans in place, and hopefully it will all work,” he concluded.
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