The find of the just concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), Umran Malik, is making headlines for his splendid campaign in the cash-rich league's 15th season. Riding on his tearaway pace and lethal bowling he has been rewarded with a place in India's squad for South Africa five-match T20I series which is scheduled to be played from June 9 to June 19.
There was one more bowler who grabbed eyeballs with his fiery speed and he was non other than New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson. The Kiwi and Malik bowled some breathtaking deliveries to take IPL 2022 by the storm. Both bowled multiple deliveries over 150kmph mark.
The uncapped India pace sensation clocked the record for the fastest delivery of the tournament before the Kiwi bested him with a 157.3 kmph blitz.
Umran and Lockie finished the two-month long tournament with 22 and 12 wickets respectively.
Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi is another reputed pacer known for his speed and opined on the issue of fast balls, saying that speed won’t help if there’s hardly any length or swing.
“Speed can’t help you if you don’t have line and length and swing,” said Shaheen when he was asked about Lockie Ferguson and Umran Malik's mindboggling speeds in the IPL.
The left-arm fast bowler was speaking to the press ahead of Pakistan's three-match ODI series at home against West Indies which was supposed to take place in December last year but could not be completed due to multiple Covid-cases in the visitors' camp.
Shaheen was the pick of the bowlers in Pakistan's last home series against Australia, troubling the batters with his swing early on. He is hoping to carry the same against the Windies even though the extreme weather conditions might create a few problems for thhe fast bowlers.
“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,” he maintained.
Terming the Nicholas Pooran-led West Indies side a "strong" unit, Shaheen said they would like to win this series and collect important points in the World Championbships.
“This is an important series in terms of World Cup qualification which is why we don’t want to lose any match. Also, West Indies are a strong international side and it is not as if they are sending under-19 players for this series,” he said.
The first ODI will begin on June 8. All three matches are slated to be played in Multan.
