India's legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has backed young pace sensation Umran Malik’s inclusion in the Indian team for the upcoming England tour following his brilliant five-wicket haul against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
“The next for him, I think is the Indian team,” former India skipper Gavaskar said during his commentary after the game.
The 22-year-old Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer has produced some fiery spells of fast bowling in the 2022 IPL season, including five wickets for 25 runs on Wednesday night against GT, albeit in a losing cause. He won the Player of the Match for his performance.
“He might not play in the XI because India have got Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. So, he might not play. But just travelling with the group, travelling with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, sharing the dressing room with them… just look what is going to happen to him!” he added.
The young pace sensation has been clocking almost 150 kilometres per hour consistently and has picked up 15 wickets in eight matches at an average of 15.93. Introduced into the attack by skipper Kane Williamson as late as the eighth over, Malik bowled devastatingly quick deliveries to dismiss the Titans' top-order, becoming the first IPL bowler to pick up all the first five wickets of an innings.
He rattled Shubman Gill’s off stump for his first wicket, before removing Hardik Pandya with a combination of pace and bounce. Next, he produced a perfect 153 kmph yorker to wreck the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha, before cleaning up both David Miller and Abhinav Manohar to sign off with a five-for.
Meanwhile, India’s tour of England starts in June with the visitors playing the final Test of the five-match series, which was abandoned last year due to Covid-19, from July 1 to 5. They will then play a three-match T20 series as well as many ODIs.
