Workload management for fast bowlers during a long series can be a challenge, and India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted that with the players featuring in the Indian Premier League (IPL) right before a series, it becomes even tougher.

This year’s IPL concluded on June 3 and India’s first Test in Leeds was from June 20. Though there was a two-and-a-half-week gap, deciding whether to play key players throughout the series or rotate them remained tricky.

“It’s a real test. We play three Test match series a lot, and this is now our first time in a while when we’ve done this with five. It shouldn’t be an excuse, but in terms of conditioning, getting our guys conditioned and getting them ready for a five-Test series coming straight up after IPL, is sometimes an issue,” Morkel said on Friday, after a disappointing outing for the Indian bowlers.

While it was decided at the start of the series that Jasprit Bumrah would feature in just three matches, Mohammed Siraj took charge and featured in all four games.

However, with Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep out of action, India had to call up young Anshul Kamboj for the fourth Test in Manchester. Morkel believes that going forward, it’s important to have a core.

“You have to balance between Test matches, getting these guys a good amount of recovery time, to also keep their bowling loads up. And that’s why it’s important for us to look at the future and get a good core of five, six bowlers that we can replace and these guys can come in and they can do the job. But at the moment, there’s not a lot of experience with the ball,” he said.

“We’ve got Siraj, we’ve got Bumrah, who has played a handful in the first, and then Akash has played a little bit, but he’s out injured. So, we keep on finding ways to bring new guys,” Morkel said.

“So it is not easy at the moment. This is just a phase that we need now to work through and get these guys stronger, to last for the rest of the Test matches,” said Morkel.

He also had no qualms in accepting that the Indian pacers were ordinary on day two before putting up a better performance on Friday. Kamboj, who bowled under 130 kmph, also looked under pressure.

“Unfortunately, there’s no place to hide. We support him in the best way we can, through conversations. But it’s also for him, it’s good learning,” Morkel said.

“And I think everybody in the dressing room is constantly telling him to keep going and supporting him. That’s part of international cricket, it’s good to get a taste for it and know, moving forward, what he needs to do to play at this level…”