“Umran Malik will play for India very soon”: Michael Vaughan urges BCCI to send SRH pacer to play England’s County Cricket after notable performance so far in IPL 2022

Michael Vaughan urges BCCI to send Umran Malik to play County Cricket as a preparation ahead of representing India in International Cricket.

During the 21st match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans at Dr DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, the latter has set a target of 163 runs before Kane Williamson’s men.

One of the talking points of the innings was GT skipper Hardik Pandya facing the Indian express pacer from Jammu and Kashmir, Umran Malik during the eighth Over of the innings.

Right on the first delivery of the Over, Malik bowled a vicious bouncer at a pace of around 147 km/h, to smash Pandya’s ear-protector side of the helmet. The 28-year-old, however, quickly sent the physio back towards the dug out after the latter was seen scampering through to the centre of action upon the whacking blow.

Pandya then humbled the 22-year-old pacer by smashing back-to-back crunching boundaries the next two deliveries.

Ultimately, on the final delivery of the Over, Malik sent Matthew Wade back to the pavilion by trapping him right in front of the stumps, at a pacey delivery clicking 149.3 km/h.

Michael Vaughan urges BCCI to send Umran Malik to play County Cricket

Having impressed fans and experts with his ability to bowl consistently over the 145 km/h mark since the previous IPL season, Malik, in the ongoing match even bowled his fastest delivery at 153.3 km/h.

Post perhaps witnessing the intense, raw pace at which Umran was operating, former England skipper Michael Vaughan took to his Twitter handle, to prophesize that the SRH fast bowler would play for the Indian Cricket team very soon.

Vaughan, however, further opined that had he been part of the BCCI, he would first send the 22-year-old to play some County Cricket as part of his preparation ahead of representing his country at the international stage.

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 … #IPL2022

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 11, 2022

Umran Malik was surprisingly retained by the SRH management ahead of the ongoing season despite him having played mere three matches for them the previous year.

In spite of having impressed one and all with his ability to bowl express pace, Malik has leaked runs at economy rate of 10.42 rpo, while averaging as high as 48.66 in the tournament so far.

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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