India’s Bowling coach Morne Morkel. File
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
India bowling coach Morne Morkel hinted that the team would rotate players to bat at No. 3 in the absence of Virat Kohli during the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan. “That’s something that we’ll play around with, [whether] it’s Ishan (Kishan) or K.L. (Rahul) or Yashasvi (Jaiswal),” said Morkel in response to a question on who will take the former skipper’s place.
“We have got a couple of one-day games coming up, and we’ll give players an opportunity in different slots to give ourselves a better idea of how we can structure teams and have different options,” he said on the eve of the first ODI at the HPCA Stadium.
In the last five years, Rahul has become a dependable performer in the middle-order, batting at No. 5 or lower most of the time. Interestingly, on Friday (June 12, 2025), Kishan was seen donning the gloves during training while Rahul — who has been India’s designated wicket-keeper for a while now — was taking outfield catches, giving credence to the fact that the Karnataka batter could get a promotion.
Commenting on new pacers Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar, who are in line for their international debuts, Morkel felt the youngsters are quite ready for the challenge.
“First impressions, it is almost like they’ve been part of the squad for five years. I saw no nervousness on their face. The way they’ve gone about training, the energy they’ve trained with, was good to see,” said the former South African pacer.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi felt his side’s recent form in the 50-over format gives it the confidence to spring a surprise on the Men in Blue.
“India is a tough opposition. But at the same time, we have also played quality cricket in this format in the recent past. So, it will be a good contest between both teams,” said Shahidi.
Published – June 12, 2026 07:08 pm IST
