Morkel vs Morkel: A family divided as India take on the Proteas in massive T20 World Cup clash

In the green corner is Albie Morkel. In the blue corner sits Morne Morkel.

Both Morkel brothers have represented South Africa: Albie on 109 occasions across all three formats, and Morne a mighty 247 times.

But on Sunday, their family home in Vereeniging — an industrial town south of Johannesburg — will be divided. The brothers will be sitting in opposing dugouts when India and the Proteas go head-to-head in a mouthwatering ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights bout at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Asked if the siblings might pass on any information to each other ahead of the crunch clash, elder brother Albie responded cheekily.

“No, we don't talk to each other,” Albie said. “I think my mother, she's more worried than us. She doesn't know who to support, India or South Africa.”

The brothers have worked together at an ICC T20 World Cup before—in Australia 2022—when Albie was Namibia’s assistant coach and Morne worked with the bowling unit.

But their paths have branched off in different directions since. Morne completed his apprenticeship in various T20 franchise leagues with Durban’s Super Giants (Betway SA20) and Lucknow Super Giants (IPL).

The 41-year-old then graduated to Pakistan's bowling coach before joining up with his former LSG head coach, and now national team coach, Gautam Gambhir, as India’s bowling mentor.

Albie, meanwhile, has worked extensively with the Chennai Super Kings franchise, both in the IPL and its local sibling, Joburg Super Kings, in SA20.

He admits the transition from a player — one able to influence games almost single-handedly with the bat or ball — to sitting on the sidelines was an uncomfortable one.

“I think initially when I started my coaching career, you still coach as a player. You want to make a difference, but you can't be on the field. And I think you have to accept that fact and work out ways, because players are under pressure anyway,” he said.

“If you as a coach want to make a difference in their games all the time, that doesn't help anyway. So it's sort of finding that middle ground where you try to help, but you also don't, as a coach, put pressure on players. They know what they're doing.

“If it's real technical things, then you can work at it. But not during a tournament. I think my philosophy is once you hit a World Cup like this and you start to tinker with technical stuff, that's when you confuse players. Or players can get confused.

“So it's more about: how can I actually take pressure off guys, make them believe in themselves, stuff like that?”

Albie has certainly benefited from working closely alongside Stephen Fleming — one of the most successful T20 franchise coaches ever — which has helped him shape his coaching philosophies and ideologies.

“Stephen has been a big influence on that. I think he's one of the only coaches, or maybe the only coach in the world, who's been at a franchise for 17 years,” he said.

“That's unheard of. So it must mean he does something right. And I've certainly learned a lot from him, yes.”

It's for this reason that Morkel is not tampering with Kagiso Rabada, despite the fast bowler’s lean form heading into the India clash.

“He's still our premier fast bowler and we're going to double down on him and back him all the way," Morkel said.

"That's the only way to go now. If you get too tactical or technical with guys like that, who know what they're doing, you can confuse them. So for him, it's just a case of accepting that performance, moving forward, and being better next time. It's not a concern."