Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) Umran Malik has been the found of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 as he has enamoured almost everyone in the cricket fraternity with his tearaway pace. In the ongoing cash-rich league, Malik clocked the second fastest ball in the history of IPL, which was 157 kmph in the match against Delhi Capitals.
Fascinated by Malik's sheer talent, the chorus to include him in the Indian squad is only growing, however, it has now found yet another prominent voice in the form of South Africa's star pacer Anrich Nortje, who is playing for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the current edition of IPL.
Nortje said that Malik will surely play for India but to survive the rigours of international cricket, raw pace alone wouldn't be enough and the youngster will need to supplement his skills with quality execution.
While assessing India's new pace sensation, who is regularly hitting upwards of 90 miles per hour, Nortje sounded cautiously optimistic.
"I am sure Umran is going to be one of the key players for India in near future. Luck will also have to play its part. But most importantly, it's about the quality of what you deliver as we have seen fastest deliveries that are being awarded are going for boundaries," Nortje said.
"It doesn't matter at what pace it is bowled. Pace is not the be-all and end-all.
"It is about the quality of execution. And I believe he is improving on that aspect of having control with pace. Also at Sunrisers Hyderabad, under Dale (Steyn, fast bowling coach), Umran is in good hands. He has a lot of senior and experienced players around him, so he will certainly improve," the Proteas speed merchant said.
Malik has been mighty impressive with the ball for SRH. He has picked up 15 wickets in 11 matches and has been regularly clocking speeds of over 150 km/h in every match this season.
As far as Norjte's personal form is concerned, the current season hasn't been the best for the tall quick as he got picked in only four of DC's 12 games, taking six wickets in them.
"It's been a long break but it's good to be out there on the field with the team and it was long time at home. I needed a break at the start (of my injury) but got very long at the end not knowing what's going on.
"It's really good feeling to get going again and obviously trying to bowl at level I was bowling," the 28-year-old said.
