IPL 2022 - All The Excitement Around The New Bowling Sensation - Umran Malik

Umran Malik has become a household name after his fiery performance against Punjab Kings in the 28th Match of the IPL 2022. During PBKS’ innings, Malik was given the job to bowl the 20th over to sum up the innings. 

Odean Smith was at the crease so SRH was expecting a few more runs towards the end of the innings, but Umran Malik was in a whole another mood. The final over went with figures - 0,W,0,W,W,W. Odean Smith was caught & bowled while Rahul Chahar and Vaibhav Arora were beaten with Umran’s lethal pace and the stumps were flying around.

Malik bowled a maiden over along with 3 wickets and a run-out. He has joined the rare list of bowlers who have bowled a final over maiden in IPL. Umran Malik’s name is now written along with Irfan Pathan, Jaydev Unadkat and Lasith Malinga.

Cricketers from around the world have appreciated the 22-year-old for this massive feat. People have started rooting for his entry into Team India before the T20 World Cup this year. A fierce pacer like him can be a great asset on Australian soil.

Indian legendary batsman and Cricket expert, Sunil Gavaskar said, “If he bowls wicket-to-wicket, he’s going to be pretty much an unplayable bowler. He’s going to play for India.”

Umran Malik Biography

Umran Malik was born in Jammu, which is in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and he credits SRH player Abdul Samad to introduce him to the franchise. Till 18 years of age, Malik played with a tennis ball which turned out to be a reason for his high speed practice.

He played his debut T20 match for Jammu & Kashmir in 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and had his List A Cricket debut in 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy. 

He was a net bowler with SRH in IPL 2021 and got the opportunity in the Playing 11 when pacer T Natarajan got ill and unavailable.

After seeing his performance, he was assigned as a net bowler for India in the 2021 T20 World Cup where he gained immense exposure with cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli.

Umran Malik Bowling Speed

In his first IPL match, Malik highly impressed everyone by delivering consistent balls at 150+ km/h. In his second IPL match, against RCB, Malik bowled the fastest bowl of the season at 152.95 km/h.

He was retained by SRH for IPL 2022 as a full-time pacer of the team. In 6 matches so far, Malik has picked 9 wickets including a 4-wicket haul against PBKS. Umran Malik’s fastest ball came when he had beaten his own record of fastest delivery in IPL by clocking speed of 153.3 km/h against Gujarat Titans this season.

After this match, former England skipper Micheal Vaughan tweeted, “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”

SRH lost the first 2 matches this year but backed themselves up and then went on to win 4 matches in a row. They are at the 5th spot on the table with 8 points.

Umran Malik Stats