Following a disappointing 2023 Indian Premier League season, Umran Malik and Sunrisers Hyderabad were eliminated from contention on Sunday following a defeat to the Mumbai Indians. Their bowling unit let them down as Rohit Sharma’s team chased down their total of 200 with two overs to spare after they batted first and recorded a solid score of 200/5 in 20 overs. After RCB, their main rival for a playoff spot, lost their final match of the night against the Gujarat Titans, MI qualified for the playoffs thanks to an unbeaten century from all-arounder Cameron Green.
The Sunrisers played with an altered lineup versus MI, which included an underperforming Umran Malik. When Umran, a fast bowler who had made seven appearances for SRH before that game, was left out of the starting lineup, skipper Aiden Markram attracted criticism for not knowing the cause.
Virender Sehwag criticises Umran Malik for showing no improvement in IPL 2023
The SRH’s last game of the season was also a bust for the speedster, as he let up 41 runs in three overs. Virender Sehwag, a former India opener, was scathing of the Indian bowler, saying that despite working with Dale Steyn for a while, the latter had not picked Steyn’s head.
“If it were a South African pacer, I could’ve understood that he wouldn’t want to bowl too full. But Umran Malik… the problem is that he keeps shuffling his length. He doesn’t have the experience yet. He might have worked a lot with Dale Steyn, but he hasn’t really got the idea of his length. Despite working with Steyn for so long and learning under him, he’s doing the same mistakes that he did last year,” Sehwag said.
Umran finished his IPL 2023 campaign with a dismal economy rate of 10.85, having taken only 5 wickets in 8 games.
