India pace sensation Umran Malik has been tipped to play international cricket soon enough thanks to his ability to bowl at high speed consistently – something which has made him a fan-favourite during the ongoing IPL 2022. Kamran Akmal reckons that had Umran been born in Pakistan , the youngster would have played international cricket by now.
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“If he was in Pakistan, maybe he would have played international cricket. His economy is high, but he is a strike bowler since he is getting wickets,” Akmal was quoted as saying by Paktv.tv,
Akmal, a former Pakistan batter, also lauded the Indian cricket setup for producing a long line of world-class fast bowlers.
“After every match, his (Umran’s) speed chart comes where he clocks around 155 km/h and it’s not going down. It’s a good competition in the Indian team. Earlier, Indian cricket lacked quality fast bowlers, but now they have a plethora of pacers like Navdeep Saini, (Mohammed) Siraj, (Mohammed) Shami and (Jasprit) Bumrah,” observed.
“Even Umesh Yadav is bowling beautifully. With 10-12 pacers in the ranks, it’s becoming tough for Indian selectors to make selections,” he added.
Umran’s rise has been meteoric. Last season, he was with Sunrisers Hyderabad as their net bowler and was given a game late into the season during which he showed his ability to bowl at quick pace.
Such was his impact that SRH decided to retain him ahead of the mega auction and the 22-year-old has repaid the faith by taking 15 wickets in 11 matches so far – the second highest this season for the franchise.
Kamran also praised for how India have handled the pacer by not rushing him into international cricket.
“Last season he played only one or two games. If he was in Pakistan, he would surely have played for us. But Indian cricket showed a lot of maturity by giving Malik a chance to play in an entire IPL season,” he said.
However, Umran has been quite expensive – he has an economy of 9.10. However, Karman defended that saying it’s been the case with the likes of yesteryear pacers including Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar too.
“Brett Lee and Shoaib (Akhtar) bhai were also expensive, but they picked up wickets and that’s how strike bowlers should be,” Kamran argued.
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