Will India Go In With All Three Spinners At Asia Cup? Morne Morkel Breaks Silence | Cricket News

Last Updated:September 08, 2025, 21:36 IST

Indian men’s cricket team bowling coach Morne Morkel discusses Dubai pitch conditions for Asia Cup, spin options, and Kuldeep Yadav’s readiness.

Kuldeep Yadav is expected to lead India’s spin attack at the Asia Cup (Picture credit: AFP)

Indian men’s cricket team bowling coach Morne Morkel has said that the pitches in Dubai for the Asia Cup will be different from the ones during the Champions Trophy and hence India might not go in with an all-spin attack, although that would be decided closer to the match against the UAE on September 10.

In the Champions Trophy, India fielded four specialist spinners: Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. This time, they have only the first three at their disposal, with Jadeja having retired from T20Is after the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph.

But that was in March and Morkel noted that the tracks at Dubai Stadium in September are much greener and fresher.

“Again, we need to go and look at the wicket. I think when the Champions Trophy was played at that time, there was a lot of cricket on the surfaces here and they looked a little bit tired,” Morkel said while speaking to the media on Monday.

“So again, tonight we will have a first look at the surface and I believe there is quite a bit of grass covering on the square. So we will have a good idea going into the first game in terms of what is sort of a better way to go, but in terms of planning at the moment, we are covering all bases and then we will make a decision on match day,” Morkel added.

The bowling coach acknowledged how tough it has been for Kuldeep to miss game time in England but expressed confidence in the latter’s ability to shine in the upcoming games.

“I think he is a very professional athlete. His attitude since England, where he received hardly any game time, he is still the guy that put the overs in,” Morkel said.

“And for me, Kuldeep, like I said, he has bowled a lot of overs in his career. He knows what to do to get himself ready for T20s, white-ball cricket. And like I said, we can control only what we can control now and that is when we do train now and when we have our sessions, that it is focused, that there is a purpose behind it and we have goals,” Morkel added.

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