IPL 2022: Umran Malik will soon play for India – Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has predicted that Umran Malik will soon play for India and urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India to send him to play County Cricket in England.

Malik has impressed with his raw pace and he has shown the skills to go a long way in his career.

The gun fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir can breathe down the neck of the opposition batters with his extra pace and he can bowl consistently at around 150 clicks. Malik has also got an ideal mentor in Dale Steyn at the Sunrisers Hyderabad to help him take giant strides in his career. The speedster has taken five wickets in his young career of seven IPL matches.

Malik has a smooth action and if he can further improve his accuracy, he could become a deadly bowler for India. The fast bowler clocked 153.3 km/h against Gujarat Titans on Monday.

The 22-year old also accounted for Matthew Wade as he beat the left-hander with pace to plumb him in front of the wickets. But, Malik was a tad expensive in his spell as he conceded 39 runs in his quota of four overs.

“Umran Malik will play for India very soon … If I was the BCCI I would be sending him to play some County cricket this summer to help him develop first though,” Vaughan tweeted on Monday.

Meanwhile, Umran Malik also smashed Hardik Pandya on the head with a sharp bumper. Pandya said he couldn’t let a young gun get away as the GT skipper scored a couple of boundaries against the young pacer.

“With all due respect, I can’t let a young gun get away with something right? The IPL is tough so it kind of woke me up and it felt nice after that,” said Hardik after the game. “They bowled well and stuck to their plan – there was varying bounce with their bowlers also having different heights. I didn’t get that one shot I wanted,” he added.

SRH went on to win the game by eight wickets after Kane Williamson and Nicholas Pooran scored fine knocks. SRH will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Friday.