Young SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Umran Malik has impressed one and all with his speed and how he can dish out deliveries in the range of 150 kmph consistently. In their last Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 game against Punjab Kings, he returned with four wickets, including three wickets in the final over of the innings. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that Umran is going to play for India and if he bowls wicket-to-wicket, then he is going to be unplayable.
"Umran Malik has been very, very impressive with his speed but more than his speed, it's his accuracy (that's impressed). A lot of guys who bowl at that speed tend to spray the ball around but Umran bowls very few wide deliveries," said Gavaskar on Cricket Live on Star Sports.
"If he can control the wides down the leg side, he will be a tremendous bowler because that will mean he'll be attacking the stumps all the time, and with his pace, it's not easy to hit straight. If he bowls wicket-to-wicket, he's going to be pretty much an unplayable bowler. He's going to play for India," he stated further.
SunRisers Hyderabad fast-bowling coach Dale Steyn is also highly impressed by Umran and he had also celebrated in style with Muttiah Muralitharan in the dugout when Umran had rattled the stumps of KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer in their previous match.
While speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Steyn said on Umran: "My job with Umran is to ensure he runs fast and make players play differently. My job is to try and make him forward-thinking as to what the batters are planning on doing. It's exciting for us to sit back and watch what a genius he is. I don't want to turn him into what I was, all I want is his geniuses to come out."
SRH have won four matches on a trot and they are placed at the fourth spot in the points table. In the last game against Punjab Kings, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran had taken SRH over the line.
SRH will next square off against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.