Asia Cup 2025 | Morne Morkel discusses Abhishek Sharma and Hardik Pandya’s recovery plans ahead of final

Indian team’s bowling coach Morne Morkel has shared his insights on the fitness concerns of Hardik Pandya and Abhishek Sharma ahead of the highly anticipated Asia Cup final in 2025. 

The last game before the Asia Cup final was a tight game, which went down to the wire and ended in favor of the Men in Blue, who won the game in the super over. Though the win helped the team to maintain its unbeaten run in the tournament ahead of the final, there were also some fitness concerns with Hardik going off the field after bowling the first over, and Abhishek was also absent throughout the second innings. This has led the experts and fans to question whether the two players will be fit enough to play on Sunday. Morkel had shared the recovery plans of the two players ahead of the game.

“The key for the boys is to rest. They're in an ice bath already. The recovery started straight after the match. The best way to recover is sleep and stay off your feet. Hopefully they can get a good night's sleep,” Morkel said as quoted by Espncricinfo.

“There will be individual pool sessions for the guys organised. Then some massages before they get mentally ready for the big battle on Sunday. It's a quick turnaround, and playing smart is going to be the key. There will certainly be no training,” he added.

Apart from the injury concerns of the players, Morkel has also talked about the challenges faced by Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh during the game. The two pacers had an expensive outing with the ball, with Arshdeep ending with figures 1/46 and Rana finishing his quota with a spell of 1/54. Though they managed to make a comeback in the death overs, it was still an underwhelming performance from them.

“In our environment we want to move away from an excuse culture. The effort they put in at training, we expect them to go out there and deliver. Yes, sometimes lack of game time is a factor. You can bowl as many overs as you like in the nets, but nothing beats game time,” the former South African pacer said.

“The quality of work we put in, we expect the guys to deliver. At the moment, things aren't happening for them, but the team is winning, they're all X-factor players and real match winners,” he concluded.