Umran Malik leads charge of India’s young pace brigade

The meteoric rise of young fast bowler Umran Malik has been the compelling story of IPL15.

The rangy, powerfully built 22-year-old son of a fruit seller from Jammu, which hardly boasts of a cricket tradition, has attracted global attention by cranking up his pace to 150-plus kmph, rattling batsmen, sending stumps flying, helping his team Sunrisers Hyderabad recover from a horrid start to become a serious contender for a place in the play-offs.

Umran’s searing pace has been the most discussed subject of the tournament so far. He’s been the fastest bowler, quelling all challengers, including the likes of acknowledged stars Lockie Ferguson and Jasprit Bumrah. It’s not that Umran has clocked extreme pace in just one over or one match, but that he has been doing this consistently which has had experts extolling his talent and drawn in spectators whenever Sunrisers are playing.

“That he does not compromise on speed even when he is not getting wickets is a virtue,’’ says former India captain and coach Ravi Shastri. “Often, young fast bowlers get discouraged when they are taken for a few runs. That is when they need an arm around the shoulder and encouragement to keep both chin and pace up. It is good that he has Kane Williamson, who knows a thing or two about player mentoring, captaining Umran at SRH he says.

Shastri, who along with former captain Virat Kohli is credited for making India’s pace attack potent and versatile by spotting the latent talent in Jasprit Bumrah and fast tracking him into Test cricket in 2017-18 believes that Umran should be handled similarly by India’s current selectors.

“This kind of pace is uncommon and must be exploited as soon as possible. When a young bowler is as hungry and ambitious as Umran looks, what is the wait for?” asks Shastri “I am not saying he should start playing for India straightaway, but he should be in the squads – in all formats — so that he gets a feel of what cricket at the highest level is all about. That experience would be invaluable.”

“Umran was a net bowler when India played in the T20 World Cup last season and Shstri had opportunity to see him at close quarters. “He is brawny, extremely fit, very hard working and passionate about fast bowling. Shastri has watched Umran closely during the last T20 World Cup in UAE, where the 22-year-old was a net bowler. “He is strong, hard-working, wants to excel. He is also passionate about bowling fast. He’s going to trouble a lot of batsmen going ahead if he maintains this growth trajectory.”

Umran had a poor start to IPL15, unable to find rhythm, leaking runs, generally making little impact. In fact critics averred that he would be a handicap to a struggling side (SRH lost their first two matches) and should be dropped. But the team management of Tom Moody, captain Williamson and bowling coach Dale Steyn backed the young fast bowlers, put even more faith in him, and he paid back in brilliant fashion.

Umran’s tearway pace and pinpoint Yorkers was among the major reasons why SRH won five matches on the trot to come strongly into the race for a place in the play-offs. The best batsmen were shaken by his speed, some even showed signs of fear. Slightly open-chested in his approach, Umran steaming in from a longish run off hurling the ball at supersonic speed became a sight to behold and a major talking point as SRH pulled off five wins on the trot. Umran picked up 15 wickets in these 5 matches to be among the frontrunners in wickets tally this season. In His 5-25 against Gujarat Titans is arguably the best bowling performance this season even though his team lost.

In SRH’s next two matches, however, he has not only gone wicketless, but also for plenty of runs, conceding 48 in four overs against Chennai Super Kings SK and 52 from four against Delhi Capitals.

This set back his team certainly and also set some tongues wagging whether Umran had not been overrated. Shastri, however, does not see the lack of wickets in two matches as a concern. He believes that failures, especially early in a player’s career, are as important in a player’s learning curve as success.

“Some days you bowl superbly and get no reward, some days you bowl poorly and pick up plenty of wickets. When you are bowling at such speed, you will at time concede runs. The option is not to become defensive, cut down on pace and sacrifice on your strengths, but improve on adjusting to pitches, match situations, understanding the mood and form of batsmen to work you way out. The hard knocks have to be absorbed, players have to toughen up mentally, put failures behind and focus on the next match.

A strong finish to the season, Shastri believes, would enhance Umran’s prospects of making the cut for the Indian squad, in T20s as well as the solitary Test match to be played in England in July.  He could become a big asset especially in overseas conditions when there is more help for fast bowlers.

While Umran has been grabbing the headlines, there are quite a number of other young Indian fast bowlers also making their mark this season and competition for him. Mohson Khan (Lucknow), Kuldeep Sen (Rajasthan) are , Mukesh Chaudhury (CSK), Yash Dayal (Gujarat) three such who have shown consistent high pace (mid 140-s), apart from the likes of Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya who have been on the selector’s radar for a couple of seasons now. Then there are the frontliners Bumrah, Mohamed Shami, Mohamed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, T Natarajan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar holding their own or going great guns.

For a country starved of fast bowlers for decades, Indian cricket has never been richer in this aspect. In large measure this dramatic transformation can be located in the IPL which has incentivized fast bowling like nothing before.