SRH's Umran Malik Bowls Maiden, takes out KKR Skipper

Umran Malik became one of the highlights in recent games of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League T20 2022. He managed to become one of the best pacers on the team as he took out Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Shreyas Iyer.

SRH Coach Dale Steyn is proud of Malik’s recent achievement and supports him fully. The former South African pacer is happy his player made quite a feat.

“It’s great to see someone run in and bowl 150kmph an hour. Very often we try and create guys to make them more aware like change your pace, do this and that. But I think Umran is out and out raw," said Steyn to Star Sports.

"It’s great to just let him loose and do what he does, which is great because you don’t want to change people and block him off too much.

“To watch him bowl at 150 clicks an hour consistently is super exciting, not just for me but for everyone watching the game at home or in stadium. It’s not great to face but it’s super exciting.”

Malik is one of the three-player ever in the history of the IPL to bowl a maiden in the 20th overs of an innings in SRH's last match against Punjab Kings. He bowled an over while allowing no runs ever.

Wicket-taking specialty

Malik debuted for a first-class last year replacing T Natarajan who was out due to contracting COVID-19. Malik was picked in a trial in Jammu and Kashmir. SRH re-bought him for 4 crores INR to play for the IPL this season.

He also took out three wickets in the same maiden and he took out another one in other overs. Malik deservingly took home the player of the match title for this achievement.

SRH Head coach Tom Moody said the team is eager to prepare Malik to specialize in wicket-taking.

“Umran has been embraced by the franchise. He has been embraced by the team. There is no question about that,” said Moody after the game.

“Everyone enjoys his bowling. He bowled very well (against KKR). He stuck to his plans and we were quite meticulous with our planning to help him understand his role.

"At the end of the day, when you are bowling 150 kph an hour, you are likely to go for runs. He goes for a lot of runs behind the wicket. It’s not like he is getting smashed down the ground or through the covers,” Moody continued.

“So you got to accept that his style of bowling, there’s going to be a higher economy to that. And his role is to run in and express himself and be himself. We try and build a field around that so that he can express his fast bowling.

"He is clearly still at the beginning of his journey. He is learning every single day and having the likes of Dale Steyn around him is a huge boost because he is learning so much on the go. We accept he is going to go for runs, what we want to see is the return in terms of wickets."