J&K-born Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Umran Malik, Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Tilak Varma, and Punjab Kings (PBKS) left-arm speedster Arshdeep Singh are likely to be selected for the series against South Africa.
The five-match T20I series between India and South Africa will begin on June 9. The first match will be held in Delhi. Other matches will be played in Cuttack, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, and Bengaluru respectively.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma, will pick two different squads for the India tour of England and the South Africa tour, as per a report in Cricbuzz.
Team India captain Rohit Sharma, vice-captain KL Rahul, premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, former captain Virat Kohli, pacer Mohammed Shami, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are likely to be rested for the series against South Africa. They will however be available for England tour.
Tilak Varma, Umran Malik, and Arshdeep Singh are most likely to play the home T20I series against the South Africa Team in the absence of several senior players, the report further stated.
Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Tilak has shined with the bat despite the team’s awful run in the IPL 2022. So far, he has scored 368 runs in 12 games at an average of 40.89 and a strike rate of 132.85. Also, he is Mumbai Indians’ highest run-getter in the IPL 2022.
Umran Malik, on the other hand, has impressed everyone with his ability to clock the deliveries at over 150kph consistently. Also, he has bagged 18 wickets in 12 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad in Indian Premier League 2022.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep has been performing well consistently in the last few seasons of the Indian Premier League and in IPL 2022 he has bagged 7 wickets. However, numbers don’t justify his talent as in the death-overs he has delivered some magical spells for Punjab Kings.
Other players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, and Avesh Khan are likely to be picked for South Africa series along with Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shikhar Dhawan is likely to be appointed as the captain for the 5-match T20I series against South Africa.
J&K-born pacer Umran Malik has broken the IPL record after he bowled a maiden 20th over and picked up three wickets against Punjab Kings.
Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad player became only fourth bowler in IPL history to bowl a maiden 20th over. Irfan Pathan, Lasith Malinga, and Jaydev Unadkat had achieved the feat.
Malik, who was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2022, is already one of the fastest bowlers in India. However, though he has sent down deliveries over 150kmph this season, the Jammu and Kashmir player has picked up only three wickets this season in four matches, conceding at 10.42 runs an over.
SRH retained him for Rs 4 crore along with captain Kane Williamson and all-rounder Abdul Samad, also from Jammu and Kashmir.
Coming from a humble background, Malik’s father runs a fruit stall in Jammu. A class X dropout, Malik is the only brother of his elder sisters.
Last season, Umran Malik was with the SunRisers as a net bowler. But after T Natarajan tested positive for COVID, Malik was named his replacement.
Malik made his competitive debut last year. He has picked a total of four wickets having played one T20 and List A match for Jammu and Kashmir. Malik made his T20 debut for Jammu and Kashmir in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January last year. In his T20 debut vs Railways, he returned with the impressive figures of 3/24nt.
