Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi, center, without a cap, celebrates with teammates the wicket of Ireland's Lorcan Tucker during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between Ireland and Pakistan at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, Lauderhill, Fla., Sunday, June 16, 2024. AP/PTIFormer Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has stated that the current crop of national team pacers didn’t value Morne Morkel during his short stint as the Pakistan bowling coach.
“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.
Morkel, who was recently named as the Indian bowling coach under, was with the Pakistan team during the 2023 ODI World Cup which turned out to be an underwhelming campaign for the 1992 winners.
The former Proteas pacer had joined the Pakistan setup on a six-month contract in June 2023. (Reuters)
Morkel is currently part of the Indian coaching staff under head coach Gautam Gambhir, having previously worked with him at the Lucknow Super Giants franchise.
Basit also believes the current Indian pace battery with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Sirai is on par with the former Pakistan pace attack that comprised of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.
“The Indian bowling unit is so impactful that they are on the level with pacers Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, and Waqar Younis. Right now, Mohammed Shami is not playing,” he said on his YouTube channel.
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