Umran Malik has not proved to be economical in his T20I career so far. However, Malik has the ability to trouble batters with raw pace. On February 1 in the series decider, Malik preyed on under-pressure New Zealand batters as his 150mph delivery not only got the wicket of Michael Bracewell but sent the bail flying over the wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan and 30-yard circle.
As New Zealand were on the back foot having lost four wickets for just seven runs in mammoth run chase of 235, Pandya introduced the Jammu & Kashmir express in the fifth over. He started off with a delivery that clocked 148.6 kmph. Coming round the wicket, he kicked it up a notch. The length ball skidded off the surface and hit the stumps.
Bracewell was too late with the shot as the pace was too much for him to get the bat down in time. He got out after hitting a six in the previous over, the first of New Zealand's innings.
The video of the bail flying over the 30-yard circle has been making rounds on social media.
The wicket of Bracewell meant that New Zealand lost half their side for 21. Malik bowled one more over with the new ball. He returned to the attack later in the innings and got the wicket of Daryl Mitchell as New Zealand got all out for 66 and lost the match by a record-breaking margin of 168 runs.
Malik conceded just nine runs from 2.1 overs he bowled. However, his T20I career economy rate is not impressive. In the eight T20Is, he has taken 11 wickets at an average of 22.09 but leaked runs at 10.48 runs per over.
In the first T20I, Malik conceded 16 runs from the only over he bowled. Pandya did not give another over to him for the rest of the innings. In the next game, he was dropped for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal as the Lucknow pitch had more assistance for spinners.
