Published: Oct 04, 2021, 07:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 04, 2021, 09:41 AM (IST)
Dubai: Umran Malik, the 21-year-old youngster from J&K, shot to focus after he clocked 150 kph in his IPL debut on Sunday against Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai. Malik, who came in as T. Natarajan’s replacement, was the only silver lining for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise, who slumped to their 10th loss in the season.
Following Malik’s impressive spell with the ball where he tested Nitish Rana on more than one occasion apart from creating doubts in the minds of other batsmen, received praise from former India pacer Ashish Nehra. The ex-India pacer seemed surprised as to why he was not picked in the earlier games.
“I am surprised SRH did not play Umran Malik earlier. He was brought in as T Natarajan’s replacement, who hasn’t taken part in the second half of IPL 2021 at all. SRH was struggling in the bowling department so I am wondering why they held him back, especially considering the pitches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” the former left-arm seamer said during an interaction on Cricbuzz.
“Umran Malik definitely has pace, but that’s not all. His action is very smooth and, being from Kashmir, he is very strong. He is skiddy, and the way the ball left his hand was very impressive,” he added.
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill hit a fine half-century after an impressive display by the bowlers to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad and keep their IPL playoffs’ hopes alive.
KKR first produced a clinical bowling effort to restrict SRH to a below-par 115 for eight and then rode on Gill’s 57 off 51 balls to reach home comfortably. The win consolidated KKR’s position at fourth place in the IPL 2021 points table with 12 points from 13 matches.
