Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Umran Malik has been one of the finds of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) after impressing the cricketing world with his raw pace. In SRH’s clash vs Delhi Capitals (DC) last week, he bowled the second fastest delivery in the history of the world’s richest league with a ball that hit 157 km/hr on the speedometer.
Ahead of the 2022 season, SRH took a big gamble on Umran by retaining him for a big amount of Rs. 4 crore despite him playing just three games for the franchise. The move has turned out to be a genius decision with the 21-year-old taking the tournament by storm and causing serious problems to opposition batters. So far, he has 15 wickets to his name in 11 matches this season including an incredible five-wicket haul against Gujarat Titans (GT).
However, his performances have dipped over the last three games with him giving away 125 runs in 10 overs without a single scalp in these matches. With batters taking him to the cleaners, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has given a stern warning to Umran that pace is not the only important thing and he has to learn to bowl in the right areas.
“When someone tells him on his face it’s all good to have 156, it’s exciting, it’s brilliant, we all love it, you have a great future, you’re going to play for India very soon. But if you don’t get it right that 156 will go for 256 off the bat. And that is exactly what is happening,” said Shastri to Star Sports.
“The pace is good, but you got to get it in your mind that you have to get it in the right areas. Otherwise, just hold yourself back and use that space sparingly, to surprise the batter. Those kinds of thoughts should go through your mind. If you don’t get it right, you are going to fetch and fetch big time. It goes off the bat at 250 to 300 knots!,” he added.
The cricket-turned-commentator further elaborated that with pitches slowing down as the tournament progresses he needs more in his locker than just pace and asserted that speed does not matter in the T20 format.
The pitches will slow up as the tournament progresses. We’ve seen seam movement that existed in the first two-three weeks is not there and the pitches are better for batting. So he has got to get it right.
“I’m seeing the media and everywhere it say 156, 154 – it doesn’t matter in this format. You have to get it in the right areas and he hasn’t. If he attacks the stumps he will be far more consistent. 156, 157 – very good, excellent – but channelise it in the right direction,” he concluded.
