Morne Morkel Highlights Sooryavanshi's Growth Through India's Experienced Dressing Room

Lucknow: 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.

Two Lucknow-based IPL pacers, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav, will also return to India’s T20I setup in the series opener at the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, with the management pondering over its bowling combinations on a pitch that is expected to offer a mix of pace, bounce and spin.

But Morkel believes Sooryavanshi’s growth should not be judged by the amount of game time he gets, with the 14-year-old already reaping the benefits of being around senior players and watching them prepare and react to different situations.

“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. 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.

“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. So I always challenge them; I say, watch what this guy is doing in training, how does he face his first 15 balls? 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.”

Morkel said he also encourages the young batter to reflect on what he has learnt from each training session. “I think that for me is a fantastic growth sort of mind map. 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? 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.

While Sooryavanshi’s role at the top could depend on India’s combination, Morkel expects the management to assess the players returning from the Asian Games before finalising the XI. IANS

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