Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali lashed out at the country’s current set of pace bowlers for belittling ex-South Africa pacer Morne Morkel during the latter’s brief stint as the Men-in-Green’s bowling coach last year.
South Africa bowler Morne Morkel (AFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI)
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali lashed out at the country’s current set of pace bowlers for belittling ex-South Africa pacer Morne Morkel during the latter’s brief stint as the Men-in-Green’s bowling coach last year.
Ali’s comments came after Morkel, India’s newly-recruited bowling coach, kicked off his stint with an impressive performance from Jasprit Bumrah and Co, during India’s resounding 280-run triumph over Bangladesh in the opening Test in Chennai.
Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers in the first innings, returning with four wickets, and went on to add one in the second for a match haul of five, while Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared nine wickets between them to emerge chief architects of India’s massive victory inside four days.
Advertisement
Ali took potshots at the attitude of Pakistani bowlers during Morkel’s brief stint with the team. Morkel’s tenure was cut short after Pakistan’s disappointing performance at the ODI World Cup.
The Pakistani bowlers failed to meet expectations under the former South Africa pacer’s guidance during the ODI World Cup in India last year, which led to the premature end of Morkel’s stint with six weeks remaining on his contract.
“The Pakistani bowlers consider themselves to be bigger than cricket. They thought that Morkel was nothing in front of us,” Ali stated.
He further asserted that there is a massive difference between the mindsets of Indian and Pakistani players, which can be seen in their recent performances against Bangladesh. Interestingly, the same Bangladesh side recently inflicted a historic 2-0 whitewash over Pakistan on home soil.
“We got to know the difference. This is the same Bangladesh played against Pakistan, where it seemed as if Pakistan were completely on the back foot. This is the same Bangladesh that whitewashed Pakistan. The difference is in mindset, thinking and class,” he said.
India will next take on Bangladesh in the second Test in Kanpur, starting September 27.
Advertisement
