India's bowling coach Morne Morkel lauded the players for an impressive performance against New Zealand in their last group stage match of ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Morkel was happy with the way bowlers put New Zealand batters under pressure by bowling dot balls. He lauded mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy who claimed a five-wicket haul on his Champions Trophy debut, especially in Dubai where he had a tough time last time around.
“You know how to play, what’s our blueprint here with the ball on this surface. The way you went about it by taking those wickets, squeezing them in, and bowling those dot balls in the middle periods was great," Morkel said in a video posted by the BCCI.
“Varun, you got your opportunity today; I am very happy for you. But as a bowling unit, boys, we’re in a good space. I’m looking forward to the next game. We have done the training, and this group is in a good space," he added.
Morkel loved middle order's fight
Earlier, Morkel also expressed that he was impressed with the way middle-order batters absorbed pressure as India's top-order was back in the hut when 30 runs were on the board in the seventh over.
"If you played tournament cricket, you want to, as a team, face different scenarios and different challenges building up to the semi-final and final. I think today, for me, it was a great box ticked," he said.
“For me, it was great to see the middle-order putting up a fight, forming a partnership. Shreyas, yourself there and Axar there absorbing the pressure, fighting for us in those middle stages is a big tick for me going into the semi-final and final," he added.
'Awesome' Pandya, 'mature' Rahul
He continued to praise the middle-order batters. KL Rahul scored 23 runs from 39 balls but Morkel said that he showed maturity under given conditions. Also, he labelled Hardik Pandya's run-a-ball 45 as 'awesome'.
“Overs 11-40, scoring 148 runs there, KL (Rahul), you formed that partnership, came in there and played beautifully. You showed maturity, you showed fight, you showed character with the bat. Also, to you (Hardik Pandya), your knock there with the tail to score 16 in the last 10 was awesome," he further added.
India will face Australia in the semifinal of the Champions Trophy 2025. It will be interesting to see if Chakravarthy retains his place in the side as fresh pitch will be used for the knockout encounter.
