IND vs SA, 1st Test: Morkel downplays relating Gill’s injury to workload; remains surprised by Eden’s pitch

India men’s bowling coach Morne Morkel lamented the ‘unfortunate’ injury that skipper Shubman Gill suffered on the second day of the opening Test against South Africa.

On Saturday, Gill was retired hurt after batting just three balls, with what appeared to be a neck injury. The BCCI later confirmed it as a spasm and that his situation was being monitored.

Morkel, though, refused to blame the injury on Gill’s multi-format presence and the resultant workload it has placed on him.

“I think we first need to determine how he got the neck stiffness,” said Morkel at a press conference after Day 2.

“Maybe, [it was] just a bad night’s sleep. I don’t think we can put it down to the load [workload]. Shubman is a very fit guy. He looks after himself very well.

“So it was just unfortunate this morning that he woke up with a stiff neck, and that carried into the day, which was crucial for us. Another partnership with him was what we needed at the time,” said Morkel.

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The former South African pacer added that the rate of deterioration of the Eden pitch has also taken the Indian team management aback.

The away side, in its second batting foray, stuttered to 93 for seven at the end of day’s play, with batting looking set to become even more arduous on Sunday.

“We didn’t expect that it [the pitch] would deteriorate so quickly. Looking at it the day before the game and in the morning of the game and the first couple of hours, it was a good wicket. So then it did deteriorate, which was unexpected.

“But I think that’s the beauty sometimes of playing in the subcontinent. You need to be able to adapt. You need to be able to react to conditions quite quickly. And that’s a sort of challenge we’re facing here at the moment,” said Morkel.

With a tough fourth-innings chase looming large for India, Morkel suggested that the home batters will have to devise a way out before it’s too late.

“If you look at how the ball was behaving the entire day, there were a couple of balls that just spun past the bat quite sharply. But I think what Temba [Bavuma] showed today is valuable. If you can rotate the strike and have a solid game plan, you can get through tough periods.

“It’s just a matter of fighting through those tough periods and not giving your wicket away. But I think every batter will have a different sort of game plan on how they want to play on this surface. I think it’s up to the individual to work out what their best way of scoring is,” Morkel added.

Published on Nov 15, 2025