“I never thought about being that fast”, Shaheen Afridi reacts to question about rising Indian speedster Umran Malik

Pakistan will host West Indies in a three-match ODI series from June 8th. All the games will take place in Multan. Ahead of the series, speedster Shaheen Afridi came in front of the press. Amongst various other questions he took, he also answered one regarding the mindboggling speeds by pacers in IPL 2022. In this article, we take a look at what Shaheen Afridi had to say about rising Indian speedster Umran Malik.

Shaheen Afridi reacts to the question about pace

When he was asked about the serious pace at which Lockie Ferguson and Umran Malik bowled in IPL 2022, Shaheen Afridi had an interesting reply. He said, “I never thought about being that fast. My view is that speed alone doesn’t achieve anything if you don’t have line/length/swing.” It needs to be noted that Shaheen himself generates a good pace but as he said, his lines and lengths are usually on point.

Further speaking about the challenge of bowling in the upcoming series, Shaheen said, “The weather is hot but we are looking forward to playing good cricket in it. It would be a tough challenge for the fast bowlers to bowl long spells in summer but as a professional, we are ready to face it.”

Indian speedster Umran Malik might make his India debut

Umran Malik is part of Team India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa. In IPL 2022, Umran was used by Sunrisers Hyderabad as an enforcer in the middle overs. It is a strategy that yielded good rewards for himself and the team.

Now, it needs to be seen if Rahul Dravid and co. will straightaway introduce Umran to the international arena. While he has got pace, the J&K youngster has a few other aspects to work on. Hence, it will be interesting to see how he goes about in the coming days. If Umran shows his IPL form for India, he will be in the reckoning for the 2022 T20 World Cup.