Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali slammed current Pakistani bowlers for disrespecting Morne Morkel during his tenure with the Pakistan Cricket Board. Morkel served as Pakistan’s bowling coach in 2023, but his stint with the Men in Green was forgetful as the team failed to perform in the ODI World Cup 2023 which India hosted.
After his stint with PCB, Morkel joined the Indian Cricket team as a bowling coach. His first stint was the India versus Bangladesh 1st Test match where Men in Blue registered a dominating win against the neighbouring nation. After India defeated Bangladesh by 280 runs in the series opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Basit remarked on the significant difference in mindset between Indian and Pakistani players.
“The Pakistani bowlers consider themselves to be bigger than cricket. They thought that Morkel was nothing in front of us,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
“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 of mindset, thinking, and class,” he added.
Before India's tour, Bangladesh were in Pakistan for the two-Test match series where they registered their first-ever Test series win against Pakistan defeated Shan Masood & Co. by 2-0. Pakistan cricket are currently at the lowest they failed to perform since the T20 World Cup 2022 final. They faced their biggest loss in the T20 World Cup 2024 where a non-Test playing team USA defeated them in their tournament opener clash.
On the other hand, Team India hasn't lost a Test series on their home soil since 2012. Now the Men in Blue are currently preparing for the second Test match which is scheduled to take place at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The second Test match will start from 27 September.
India's squad for 2nd Test against Bangladesh
Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal
MORE ON SPORTS TAK