On This Day: Former Protea cricketer and India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel was born in 1984

Former South African cricketer and current bowling coach of the Indian team, Morne Morkel is celebrating his 41st birthday on October 6, 2025. Morne comes from a family which has cricket in its roots.

His father Albert Morkel has played List A cricket in South Africa, while his brother Albie Morkel has also played for the Proteas from 2004 to 2015.

Morne Morkel has played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is for South Africa from 2006 to 2018 taking 544 wickets in all the three formats combined. He is among the leading wicket-takers for South Africa and has been a constant performer for the Proteas. Talking about his IPL career, Morne has played Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals (previously known as Delhi Daredevils) and Kolkata Knight Riders in the cash-rich league and has also won the title with KKR in 2014.

Morne Morkel Career

Morne Morkel made his international debut for South Africa in a Test match against India in Durban on December 26, 2006. Since then, he went on to play 86 Tests for the Proteas taking 309 wickets. Talking about other formats, Morkel played 117 ODI matches from June 2007 to February 2018 taking 188 scalps in the format. In his T20I career. Morkel has scalped 47 wickets from 44 matches.

In IPL, Morne Morkel initially played for Rajasthan Royals after the franchise bought him for over INR 24 Lakh ahead of the inaugural IPL season in 2008. He was a part of the RR squad that won the title in 2008 but didn’t get to play a single match in that edition. After three years with RR, Morne spent his next three years with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) before joining Kolkata Knight Riders. In his first season for KKR, Morkel went on to win his second IPL title in 2014. He also played a crucial role in KKR’s title triumph in 2014, taking 12 wickets from 12 matches.

Morne Morkel played his last international game in April 2018 with 247 matches and 544 wickets in International cricket. After his cricketing career, Morne took over the coaching roles as he was appointed as bowling coach of Lucknow Super Giants in IPL from 2022 to 2023. He also served as bowling coach of Pakistan cricket team for a brief period in 2023. In 2024, Morne was appointed as bowling coach of the Indian cricket team under new Head Coach Gautam Gambhir.