“Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami’s mentorship will be very important for Umran Malik” – Parvez Rasool
India’s latest bowling sensation Umran Malik, who has dominated headlines with his searing pace throughout IPL 2022, earned his maiden India call-up when the Chetan Sharma-helmed selection committee on Sunday (May 22) named an eighteen-member squad for the upcoming T20I home series against South Africa. If he makes his international debut during the five-match series, Malik will become the second Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) player to don the India Blue after veteran all-rounder Parvez Rasool.
Malik’s rise to fame has been no less than a fairy tale. A fruit seller’s son, the 22-year-old broke into the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) squad almost by accident. Starting off as a net bowler for the Orange Army, he was drafted into their main squad as a replacement for left-arm pacer T Natarajan, who was ruled out with COVID-19 in the second leg of IPL 2021 in the UAE.
The pacer only got to play three matches last season, but his breathtaking speed excited the SRH think-tank so much that they decided to retain him for Rs 4 crore ahead of the mega auction. Given a regular spot in the playing XI this year, the speedster repaid SRH’s faith by snaring 22 wickets in 14 matches at 15.29 runs apiece. Agreed, his economy rate of 9.03 should be much lower, but he’s still a work-in-progress who can prove to be the X-factor for any team.
The highlights of Malik’s extraordinary IPL 2022 campaign include his maiden T20 five-wicket haul (5/25) against Gujarat Titans (GT) and the 157 kmph delivery clocked by him against Delhi Capitals (DC), which nearly broke Shaun Tait’s 11-year-old record for the fastest ball (157.71 kmph) ever bowled in the IPL. He also scripted history by winning fourteen consecutive 'fastest delivery of the match’ awards in a single edition of the lucrative league.
Although senior bowlers like Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the South Africa series, Rasool believes that SRH's newest star will learn a lot from them in his future assignments. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, the former J&K captain recently said:
“I think Bumrah and Shami’s mentorship will be very important for Umran. They have won India many matches and have the experience of bowling in overseas conditions, especially in the SENA countries. The more time Umran spends with such positive people, the better his bowling will become.”
Rasool calls for Malik’s selection in India’s T20 World Cup squad
Whether Malik should be preserved for Tests or used across all three formats has been a major bone of contention. Several luminaries like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Chaminda Vaas, Glenn McGrath and Dale Steyn have doffed their hats to the Srinagar-born youngster and tipped him to be a long-time servant of Indian cricket. Steyn, for instance, had correctly predicted in an exclusive chat with us last month that the youngster would soon play for India.
However, with pacers as quick as Malik, injury has been a perennial issue. The likes of Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Bond and Shaun Tait frequently broke down, which adversely impacted their durability at the international level. Rasool, who’s awestruck by the speedster’s meteoric rise, feels that the latter should be tried out in all three formats considering his wicket-taking ability.
“I think Umran is ready to shine in every format. He’s in top form at the moment, so if he does well against South Africa, he should board the Australia-bound flight to play in the T20 World Cup. I would advise him to take one series at a time,” the 33-year-old replied when asked about Malik’s workload management.
Incidentally, Malik was selected as a net bowler for the Men in Blue during their T20 World Cup campaign last year in the UAE. He was also a part of the India A squad that toured South Africa in November to play three unofficial Tests. Playing only the first four-day match in Bloemfontein, he bowled 21 overs and picked up a solitary wicket.
Along with Malik, Punjab left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, too, received his maiden national call-up after impressing everyone with his accurate yorkers and parsimonious death bowling in this year’s IPL. The KL Rahul-led Indian side will kick-start the series against the Proteas on June 9 in Delhi, followed by matches in Cuttack (June 12), Visakhapatnam (June 14), Rajkot (June 17) and Bengaluru (June 19).