BCCI Likely to Sack Morne Morkel and Ryan ten Doeschate Amid Team Performance Concerns

What BCCI is Planning for the Future

Under the new coaches, team India has played 14 test matches and lost 8 of them, making it an unsatisfactory record to stay with the same staff. Gautam Gambhir, former India player is the head coach of team India and shall continue to remain so, as it his exclusion can crest a lot of turbulence for the squad. The coaches have spent enough time to prove their positions. India’s most disappointing loss in Anderson Tendulkar Trophy was in the 3^rd test where they fell short of 22 runs at the Lords. Although, there’s no lie that most players are novice in the team, the coaches have not participated too!

Morne Morkel is a South African based pacer who was appointed as the bowling coach for team India in August 2024. He had been the mentor for South African National team between 2006 and 2018. He had been taken into consideration after his great test career where he played 86 matches and took 309 wickets along with taking 5 wickets in an innings 8 times! Morkel was part of the 2025 Champions Trophy winning Indian team. He had been a part of 3 different IPL teams as a player, but his best season came under Delhi Daredevils, in which he finished as the leading wicket taker with 25 wickets in 16 matches during 2012. The BCCI believes that Morkel hasn’t significantly contributed towards the betterment of Indian bowling attack, as he has not been able to recognise or nurture any talent and needs to take an exit now.

Assistant coach Ryan Neil ten Doeschate is a former player from Netherlands who was named as ICC Associate Player of the year 3 times and was included in the coaching staff due to his considerable fitness levels which kept the risk of injuries low. He was appointed as the assistant coach in July 2024, ahead of India’s tour of Sri Lanka, but has not helped a lot. In his career, he showcased all rounder performances in various formats, but no experience in test cricket. In 33 ODIs played by him, he scored 1,541 runs and took 55 wickets, making him a decent all rounder. He had previously worked as a fielding coach for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL. His inclusion in the team meant that he will work upon the fielding strategies, but the performance has been disappointing!

Head coach Gautam Gambhir joined the side in July 2024 and he suggested Morkel and Dutch Ten Doeschate to be a part of the coaching staff, along with assistant coach Abhishek Nayyar. Gambhir had worked with both of them at various occasions during IPL. Nayyar was excluded after India lost the Border Gavaskar trophy by 3-1 earlier this year. Many people are criticising the coaching staff after the debutant Anshul Kamboj did his bowl at a speed of 120kmph. The other major concern is the decision to keep Kuldeep Yadav out of the field for all the 4 tests matches, who is a World class spinner and could have pulled India when they were facing defeat. However, in a recent interview, Morkel shared that Kuldeep was not in the playing XI, to maintain the balance

Gambhir Likely to Continue as Team India Head Coach

Gautam Gambhir had signed to be team India’s mentor for a span of three years, starting from July 2024 till 2027 ODI Cricket World Cup. Under his mentorship, team India had lift the Champions Trophy, but his part in test career is yet to make noise. In his test career, he has played 58 test matches and played 4154 runs with 9 centuries. He has a good experience with coaching, as he was part of the KKR and LSG staff in IPL.  The ongoing series with England was a challenge, as it meant retirement of the two best players- Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill being the new skipper. Although, the BCCI has decided to let go of the other coaches, Gambhir will be a part as this shift can be a hurdle, and he deserves another chance.

Gautam Gambhir is responsible for the depth of batting order, but there has not been a significant refinement. India, the team which has explosive batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are yet to have a stable middle order, which has proven to be our weakness at various occasions. This problem was the reason India lost the 2^nd and 3^rd test. The team has played an intra squad matches before the series to play in known environments on Gambhir’s suggestion, but it didn’t help a lot. Players seem to miss coordination at points or attacking too aggressively in the test format. In an interview, Gambhir emphasized on the role of coach, saying its tougher to guide players from the outside in comparison to playing, but gets blame just like the players.

Another major fallout is team India’s reliance on iconic players like Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah. The latter was advised to play 3 matches only, due to workload management and has done so. However, many bowlers like Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh did not play a single match, even when they were fit. In the last match where team India could not stop the English batters from scoring 669 runs, fingers were pointed at Gambhir’s strategy. Shubman was a new skipper, but Gambhir wasn’t. He could have helped by telling him to rotate the bowlers, so they took wickets or control the run rate, but no action was taken. Another mistake is India’s fielding, where players dropped some of the crucial catches. The BCCI had taken this decision as the players and support staff aren’t able to carry the selection smoothly!