J&K-born pacer Umran Malik has broken another IPL record after he bowled a maiden 20th over and picked up three wickets against Punjab Kings.
Sunrisers Hyderabad player became only fourth bowler in IPL history to bowl a maiden 20th over. Earlier Irfan Pathan, Lasith Malinga, and Jaydev Unadkat had achieved the feat.
What made record sweet was that he picked up three wickets in his maiden over. Umran removed Odean Smith (13) on the second delivery of the last over. He then cleaned up Rahul Chahar (0) with a blistering delivery. Vaibhav Arora (0) followed suit. He was on a hat-trick on the last delivery but Arshdeep Singh pushed the delivery for single. But he was run-out.
Last week Umran Malik has silenced the critics after he bowled a perfect Yorker to knock over the stumps of Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer was batting at 28 off 24 balls when Malik, who was retained by Sunrisers Hyderbad, bowled a quick Yorker and knocked his stumps. Sunrisers’ fast-bowling coach Dale Steyn could not hide his excitement.
Malik has been criticized for lacking line and length though he bowls over 150 kmph. But his Yorker left everyone stunned. Former South African pacer Dale Steyn also provided some words of wisdom.
“Never lose pace. Anyone can bowl 130/135,” Steyn said about Umran Malik. “But yes, some variety in his skills will take him a long way forward.”
Earlier, former England skipper Michal Vaughan asked BCCI to send Malik to play county cricket to hone his skills.
Vaughan said that a stint in county cricket could help in his development. “Umran Malik will play for India very soon … If I was the BCCI I would be sending him to play some County cricket this summer to help him develop first though,” he tweeted
J&K-born 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.
In the match against Chennai Super Kings. Umran Malik clocked 153.1kmph, the fastest ball in the history of IPL. He bettered his own record by bowling the fastest delivery. Last year Malik clocked 151.03 kilometers per hour (KMPH) in his first over against Kolkata Knight Riders,
He won the fastest ball of the match award for the third consecutive time. It was also the fastest ball of IPL 2022.
Jammu and Kashmir pacer has impressed everyone with his pace. In his first match against Rajasthan Royals, Umran Malik finished with 2/37.
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.
