BGT 2024-25: Bowling coach Morne Morkel hoping for Nitish Reddy to take 'load off' India pacers

India bowling coach Morne Morkel has earmarked all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy as one of the players 'to keep an eye on' in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which starts Friday (Nov 22). India are thin on experience in pace department this time and Morkel thinks Reddy could bridge the gap.

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"[Reddy] is one of the young guys that we've mentioned, he's got that sort of batting, all-round ability. He'll be a guy that can sort of hold that one end up first. He hits the bat a little bit harder than you think. So on these sort of conditions where there might be a little bit of seam movement up front, especially the first couple of days. He'll be a very accurate wicket-to-wicket style of bowler. It's a lovely opportunity for him to hold that allrounder spot," said Morkel while talking to reporters ahead of the series opener.

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"Any team in the world always wanted the allrounder to take that load off your fast bowlers, just to give them an extra bit of breathing time. So how we use him, how Jasprit is going to use him, with maybe the spinner, to give himself, whoever's going to be the other quicks, time to catch their breath a little bit is going to be important. He's a guy that is a player you can keep your eye on in this series," he added.

India's pace attack is a bit inexperienced this time with only Jasprit Bumrah being an experienced campaigner. Apart from Bumrah, India have Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana in the pace department.

Mohammed Shami, one of India's premium pacers, has not been included in the squad owing to match fitness.

After Perth, India play the day-night second Test in Adelaide from December 6-10. The third Test will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane from December 14-18 before the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26-30. The last and final Test will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from January 3-7.