The Indian captain Virat Kohli seemed very impressed with the new pace sensation Umran Malik, who cranked up some serious speed while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the game against RCB yesterday. Although Kohli ended up on the losing side with RCB failing to chase the target set by SRH, the Indian skipper showered praise on Umran who was playing only his second game in the IPL.
Umran, who had come to the UAE as a net bowler for SRH, was drafted into the SRH main squad after Natarajan was ruled out for a few days because of COVID. Umran got the opportunity to make his debut against KKR and although SRH couldn’t win that game, Umran in his very first outing showed the world what he was capable of as he rushed some established KKR batsmen with his pace.
And the 21-year-old repeated it again as he turned up against RCB last night. When Umran Malik came on to bowl his first spell against RCB, the Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell was batting at one end, and even he was uncomfortable against Umran’s speed.
Umran Malik bowled the fastest ball ever by an Indian in the history of IPL
While the speed gun registered the speed over 150 kph quite a few times during Umran’s spell, the highest speed that was registered was 153 kph, which also happened to be the highest speed ever registered by an Indian bowler in the history of the IPL.
Also, the good thing about Umran is his action. He seems to have a repeatable action, which means he can maintain his speed over a long period of time and can bowl with the same intensity in the longer formats of the game as well.
Talking about Umran in his post-match interview, Virat Kohli said, “This tournament throws up talent every year, good to see a guy bowling at 150 clicks. It is important to understand the progress of individuals from hereon. Whenever you see talent like this, you are going to have your eyes on them and make sure you maximise their potential, which is already being seen at the IPL level.”
