T20 World Cup England: Dropped catches, Abhishek Sharma's struggles with a new batting approach, the bowlers' inability to contain the batters and conceding 170-plus scores in the last few matches, the pitch and dew factors -- all issues bothering the Indian team cropped up in the pre-match press conference by bowling coach Morne Morkel on the eve of their semifinal clash with England in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Morkel was also questioned on the team's learning from the previous two semifinal encounters with England in the T20 World Cup and the team's overall preparations for the last-four clash as it defends the title it won two years back in Barbados.
The biggest concern was the team's poor catching as the team had dropped a few catches in the run-up to the semifinals, with opener Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh grassing a couple of catches each. India have dropped 13 catches in the competition so far, and any dropped opportunity in the semis will be akin to dropping the World Cup trophy.
"Obviously, fielding is something that we speak about a lot. I think at times we are guilty, if we are honest, of giving away maybe 15-20 runs in the field. So that is one aspect that we keep on working on and asking the guys to really step up on," said Morkel, adding that the players are aware of their mistakes and are working on them.
He said the poor returns for opener Abhishek Shama and spinner Varun Chakravarthy are not a matter of concern for the team management, as they are quality players and they are bound to have an off-day or two in a season.
The bowling coach disagreed that the Indian team is a bit too dependent on mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, and once he is sorted out by the opponent team, they tend to concede a lot of runs.
"If you look at the scores in the World Cup and the series, it has been good wickets. So I don't know if you expect us to bowl every team out for 120, 150. We are in the semifinal, and we have won most of our games. And the guys have done well. These are times when I can remember that we had Rinku and Tilak bowling in certain games, and Booms(Jasprit Bumrah) and those guys not bowling their full quota.
"So I think for us, it is not how you get to the semifinals. It is the next two games, and how we are going to play there. And players, they play well. We know the margins are small in India, bowling especially. So I don't read too much into that," said Morkel.
The Indian bowling coach also debunked the assertion that the team has not been able to put things together and has not had a perfect game so far in this World Cup.
"I think the quality of this team has been shown that on any given day, somebody can put their hand up and put up a performance. Hopefully, in the last two games, especially tomorrow night, we can put that special performance in. All we can do is work hard at training.
"Unfortunately, we all know how the game goes; success is never guaranteed, but if we can give ourselves the best chance to go out and perform, that is what we strive for. A big occasion tomorrow night here, the semifinal, a great stadium to play a great game of cricket, so hopefully the boys can rock up tomorrow and just be calm and execute those skills," said Morkel.
The former South African pace bowler said they were not thinking about the pitch even though India had struggled at the Wankhede Stadium in their opening match of the T20 World Cup England, Reduced to 76/7, India recovered thanks to a brilliant 84 by skipper Suryakumar Yadav to post a competitive total after which the bowlers did their bit to ensure the hosts made a winning start.
Morkel said, "To be honest, we're not quite sure a day out how the wicket is going to play," and went on to add that they will get a good idea only on Thursday morning, as the ground staff has watered it a bit to ensure it does not become too dry, considering the hot and humid conditions.
"I'm pretty sure you experience walking here, it's a lot hotter all of a sudden in India, so in terms of moisture and allowing the wicket not to dry out, I think it's going to be key to play well. That's something we can't control. We try to keep our bases covered as best as possible.
Morkel said, "To be honest, we're not quite sure a day out how the wicket is going to play," and went on to add that they will get a good idea only on Thursday morning, as the ground staff has watered it a bit to ensure it does not become too dry, considering the hot and humid conditions.
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Though both India and England play an all-out aggressive game, Morkel said the team management is not thinking of changing their approach for the semifinal. He said they will continue to play as per their plan, and the players will try to play their natural game.