AHMEDABAD: It's not unusual to find brothers on the same side on a cricketing field but come Sunday in the T20 World Cup, two brothers who played together for several years will sit in opposing dugouts, plotting with rival teams, leaving a mother back home thoroughly confused about who to support.
Albie and Morne Morkel, the celebrated siblings of the South African team till not so long ago, find themselves in this unique situation. While Albie is working as South Africa's "specialist consultant" for this tournament, Morne is an integral part of India's Gautam Gambhir-led support staff as the bowling coach.
"No, we don't talk to each other. I think my mother, she's more worried than us. She doesn't know who to support, India or South Africa," Albie had said in jest recently.
The two sides will clash in what will be their opening match of the World Cup's Super Eight stage after an unbeaten run in the group phase. Morne also acknowledged that communication hasn't been particularly frequent with his elder brother.
"I saw him arrive at the ground. But we haven't been talking a lot. Good to seem him though," he said when asked about Albie here on Friday.
International cricket is replete with heartwarming stories of brothers combining forces on the field to become a part of the game's legend.
Whether it is the Chappells (Ian and Greg), the Waughs (Steve and Mark), the Amarnaths (Mohinder, Surinder and Rajinder), the Pathans (Irfan and Yusuf) and the Pandyas (Hardik and Krunal), the Mohammeds (Hanif, Sadiq, Mushtaq, Wazir) or the Hadlees (Richard and Dale).
They add to the allure of the game.
Of course, there are aberrations too as Sam Curran turns up for England while his brother Ben (replacement player) is representing their native Zimbabwe like the duo's late father Kevin.
But Albie and Morne have added an altogether new dimension to the old adage that a brother is "your first friend, first teammate and also the first rival."
In terms of cricketing pedigree, Morne had a bigger canvas and built a good body of work across formats including 86 Tests in which he got 309 scalps. Albie was more of a white-ball regular for the Proteas with 108 games across T20Is and ODIs in his kitty.
One of the lesser talked about aspect about Albie is that during his nascent years in Chennai Super Kings, he was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 'Man Friday', especially in the first five seasons when lower-order hitting and death bowling made him an asset.
When asked about what exactly his role of being a specialist consultant means for the team, Albie didn't really have a clear answer.
"...it's been an interesting term, a specialist consultant. I had to figure it out myself a little bit," he quipped before giving a lowdown on his job.
"I guess it's anything it takes to help the team do well in the World Cup. So do a bit of both, batting, and fielding, mostly focus around the bowling for now.
"And yeah, do some work with the lower order batters, swing work, and stuff like that," he had told reporters in New Delhi ahead of UAE match when someone asked him to define his position.
It might sound funny but top level cricket hasn't exactly witnessed a lot of "Battle of Brains" between real life siblings.
But one interesting example could be the the 'Kolkata Derby' cricket match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan where the 'Nandy -- brothers' Pranab and Palash -- coached the two Kolkata giants across at least 30 such games.
In football though, some of the illustrious siblings were in rival dug-outs.
The iconic Charlton brothers -- Bobby and Jack (England's 1966 World Cup winners) were coaching second division sides in the English league.
While Jack was managing Middlesborough (back then in 2nd division), Bobby was the gaffer at the Preston North End.
The Coeman brothers -- the legendary Ronald and his slightly lesser successful brother Erwin -- briefly coached different national teams -- the Netherlands and Oman -- although their paths didn't cross.
However, the most iconic rivalry between brother coaches would be John and Jim Harbaugh -- the biggest coaches in the American Super Bowl (American Football) -- where their respective teams have often been locked in intense rivalry.
Whenever the sibling coached teams meet each other, it is dubbed as the 'Harbaugh Bowl'.
For the Morkels, the role entails being the best possible sounding board for their respective bosses -- Shukri Conrad of South Africa and Gautam Gambhir of India.
Albie is confident that having watched Stephen Fleming closely at Chennai Super Kings, he has imbibed some good coaching habits from the Kiwi.
"Stephen has been a big influence on me. I think he's one of the only coaches, or maybe the only coach in the world who's been at a franchise (CSK) for 17 years. That's unheard of.
"So, it must mean he does something right. And I certainly learn a lot from him, yes," said Albie, who has worked with him at Johannesburg Super Kings in SA20.
On Sunday, Albie and Morne will forget the brotherhood for three and half hours.