T20 WC: Morkel backs India's batters to 'find their flow' vs spin

Ahead of the T20 World Cup Super Eight, bowling coach Morne Morkel backed India's batters to improve against spin. He noted that while players like Suryakumar Yadav have struggled, improvement is "around the corner" for the team.

Ahead of India's Super Eight clash in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup, bowling coach Morne Morkel backed the batting unit to "find their flow" against spin, saying that dominating tweakers on the surfaces so far has not been easy but improvement is "around the corner."

India will be starting off their Super Eight stage of the ICC T20 World Cup against South Africa at Ahmedabad on Friday. So far in the tournament, Indian batters, particularly Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav, have not been at their best against spin, finding it tough to dominate them whenever the ball is coming slow, and the surface offers some turn.

'Improvement is around the corner': Morkel

Despite posting in excess of 190 in two of the matches, including 200-odd against Namibia, the Indian team feels a little far from their absolute best as a batting unit. Speaking during the pre-match presser, Morkel said about the team's mixed bag game against spin, "To be honest, I think on the surfaces we have played so far, it was not the easiest wickets to hit the ball. We tried that in Mumbai, and found ourselves in trouble. So I think the important thing is that we know we can always... If we have some sort of platform, we can catch up at the back end."

"And to credit to the team, yes, we may not have dominated spin as we would have liked. But that is around the corner on a surface that we find our flow. As I said earlier, that will happen." Morkel chose to see the optimistic side of things, pointing out how, despite being slightly disappointing against spin, there have been instances of them scoring 190-200 runs on the board in this tournament.

"This, with our bowling unit, will give us a great opportunity to defend. So, in saying that, I think the conversation in the dressing room was to play that low phase slightly better. And then from there, we can reset and say, 'OK, listen, we are going to pull the trigger' at a certain whatever over that might be. And then the guys will kick on. But give us that base to launch from," concluded.

A look at India's past performances

So far in the tournament, India has looked vulnerable against spin, losing three wickets for 42 runs in eight overs against the USA against spin. In the next match, they lost five wickets for 61 runs against spin in eight overs against Namibia. The run rate against spin in these matches was 5.25 and 7.6, respectively. In the latter clash, off-spinner Gerald Erasmus (4/20) did a fantastic job in his four-over quota.

Against Pakistan, a tournament-high 18 overs of spin were delivered, and India could make only 144 at the loss of six wickets in these overs. Here, the run rate was slightly better at eight per over. In this clash of arch-rivals, Pak skipper Salman Ali Agha (1/10 in two overs) got the prized Abhishek Sharma wicket, while Saim Ayub (3/25 in four overs) and Usman Tariq (1/24) did the containment job well. Against Tariq's controversial sidearm, pausing action, India could hit just two fours in four overs, playing him with caution.

During this clash against the Netherlands, the Indian team collected 70 runs against spin in eight overs and also lost two wickets to it, with a run rate of 8.75, making it their most solid performance so far.

India's Super Eight Schedule

India will begin its Super Eight campaign against South Africa at Ahmedabad on February 22, followed by a clash against upbeat and undefeated Zimbabwe at Chennai on February 26, and will conclude against the West Indies at Kolkata on March 1. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)