Former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun has backed Umran Malik to break Shoaib Akhtar’s record of the fastest ball in International cricket. The former Pakistan gun fast bowler has clocked 161.3 kmph while bowling to England’s opener Nick Knight.
Meanwhile, Umran Malik has impressed with his raw pace since he arrived on the International stage. The fast bowler, who hails from the Valley, had unleashed 156 kmph against Sri Lanka in the recent series. In fact, Malik had breached the 157 kmph mark in the IPL.
Malik has a smooth action and he can consistently bowl above 145 kmph to breathe down the neck of the opposition’s batters.
Bharat Arun, who helped India’s bowling take giant strides during his tenure, feels a bowler can increase his pace by five kmph easily.
Speaking on News24sports, Arun said: “If you work on your action, your line and length will get better and speed will increase as well. To increase the pace, drills can be helpful and workload monitoring is also important. Any bowler can increase the pace by 5 kmph easily with this kind of work (when questioned if he can break Akhtar’s 161 kmph record).”
Meanwhile, Bharat Arun highlighted that Malik has got all the talent and he is the future of Indian cricket.
“Umran Malik is a very good find for India. Somebody who bowls 150 kmph+. He is doing that consistently, a big talent for India. We have the option of nurturing him and making him a very good bowler for India in the future.”
Malik will be in action in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand. The first ODI will be played in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
India’s ODI squad against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik
