"I am just happy for the opportunity. In cricket, its tough sometimes. Today was my night, the next night will be someone else's. I am fortunate that I got a Man of the Match award on my comeback game and it is something I will remember forever," Morkel said at the post match news conference.
"It was awesome. Even two weeks ago, I didn't know what was happening on this tour. A freak accident to David Wiese gave me this opportunity. The boys welcomed me into the side very quickly. I arrived here only last Friday."
"It's very satisfying. I have put in a lot of effort in the last season with Titans, my state side, without any visions of playing for South Africa. I certainly should not be saying that I should be playing. I am certainly not going to make any statement saying I should be in the team."
"Pitch suited our bowling attack nicely. There was a lot of bounce, uneven bounce actually, something our bowlers as a unit really exploited and we had India under the pump."
Morkel was also all praise for Kagiso Rabada and termed him a natural talent as the rookie speedster impressed with his speed and bounce and returned with figures of 1/18.
"I had never played with Rabada before today and watched him at the warm-up before the first game. I could honestly say that in my 16 years of first-class career, I have not seen anyone like him at the age of 19. I grew up seeing a young Dale Steyn come through the ranks. Rabada has got serious heart, and got serious bounce. He hit 150 today.
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