India takes on South Africa for their first international series since the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) season, and many eyes will be on the likes of Avesh Khan, Venkatesh Iyer, and Ishan Kishan, who had underwhelming IPL 2022 seasons. Fans will also keep a keen eye on their two debutants in Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik, who will be looking to make their mark and stake their claim in the T20I squad for many upcoming series.
Umran recently spoke to BCCI's official social media handles to express his joy at being selected to play for India, and despite the fact that he is not sure about his place in the starting XI, the youngster believes that this is a dream come true. "In the recently concluded season of IPL 2022, I took a total of 22 wickets in 14 matches. Then another call came from Team India and my dream came true.
My dream from the beginning was to play for India and now it has come true. I have always watched only matches of India and now playing with the same team is a big thing for me. Not just speed but also speed along line and length. When I was playing tennis ball, I used to learn yorker ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaspreet Bumrah, and Mohammad Shami by watching it on television," the pacer from Jammu & Kashmir added.
Sharing his experience of the Team India camp, Umran said, "Coming to Team India's camp on the first day and practicing with all the players was a big day for me. It was nice to meet everyone and it was a very different experience. It seems like everyone is on their own and the atmosphere is like a family. "
He also heaped praise on the India head coach Rahul Dravid, saying, "It was great to meet him (Rahul Dravid). I was not convinced that I was talking to such a great legend. They were watching my bowling and explaining to me about every single ball. It boosted my confidence a lot."
India kicks off their T20I series against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, June 9. Although many fans want to see the young pacer make his national team debut, it is highly unlikely that the coaching staff will experiment ahead of such a crunch tie.
