ODI WC prep starts now; players must put themselves under pressure, says Morne Morkel

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 25 (IANS) India bowling coach Morne Morkel on Friday asserted that preparation for the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup begins immediately through the upcoming series against the West Indies, and urged players to embrace high-pressure situations rather than waiting for the marquee tournament to step up their game.

India will begin their home season via a three-match ODI series against the West Indies at the Greenfield International Stadium on Sunday, followed by matches in Guwahati and New Chandigarh.

“Look, for me, the main focus I reckon would be: we can talk, and you can look at different options on how you want to go about playing eleven. But for me, the end of the day is that the guys who ever walk onto the field now, up until the World Cup, starting on Sunday, need to know that there’s a certain standard we want to achieve. I want these players to put themselves under pressure, as much pressure.

“I think coming to the World Cup is the biggest stage. You can’t decide a month or a week before the tournament now that we’re going to step things up. I think it starts now with this series against West Indies, how with bowling, with back ball and in the field, how can we put ourselves under pressure?” Morkel told reporters in a press conference on Friday.

He also revealed that the team management held a detailed meeting to set high benchmarks and lay down the building blocks in the 50-over format for the upcoming home season.

“Very excited for this series and for us, building towards something special. It’s almost a year away. We had a good team meeting and conversation today about how we would like to play this series and the standards we want to set.

“So, the words were spoken in the room, and hopefully now over the next week or so we can go out and start getting those foundations and the building blocks in place for this series,” he added.

To build mental toughness, Morkel said he has challenged the bowling unit to proactively seek responsibility during tough passages of play under captain Shubman Gill.

“We’ve challenged the bowlers today when conditions are tough, or there are certain partnerships that are developing badly. I want to see guys going to Shubman and asking for the ball and wanting to create opportunities and not be sort of protecting their own space.

“I think that will be a great goal for us if we can develop that now for guys wanting the tough situations. If we are maybe 30/4, who’s going to go and get that partnership and get us at 100? So if we can throw ourselves in certain situations and guys can figure out ways to play those situations and learn and take learnings about that, there will be growth, and that will help us down the line,” he added.

The bowling coach also highlighted that players will continue to be rotated across different roles in the upcoming matches against the West Indies and New Zealand to test the squad depth, especially with the Asian Games around right now and later, when Test series preparation demands players to miss a few games later in November.

“I think if you look at the last year, we’ve been trying to give guys some game time and see in different roles how they react, and that will be the same now leading into the series and looking at New Zealand, to give guys opportunity with the ball in hand. I think it’s very important for those guys to get the game time, to get a feel for the standard that we’re looking to play.

Addressing the role of senior figures like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Morkel praised Gill’s leadership while stressing how crucial experience for the veteran duo is in mentoring younger ODI squad members.

“It’s always great to have that experience back in the team. Just to guide Shubman as well. I must say Shubman has done an exceptional job so far leading the team. But I’m always a big believer in your senior players and how they shape the team. I think different players in the team will feel more comfortable speaking to a certain senior individual, and we’re quite fortunate that we’ve got a lot of experience in that.

“So if Virat or Rohit, whoever is leading the conversation, there’s a lot of game time and a lot of experience in those conversations, that can only be great for the team. We always throw out as many questions as possible in team meetings for the senior guys to speak and to share their experience.

“But the challenge is to sometimes ask a younger guy while they’re batting in the nets, pick Virat’s brain, speak to Rohit about what is important with a new ball up front. So, the more opportunities we can create for conversation with these guys, the better it is for us,” concluded Morkel.

–IANS

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