Young pacer Umran Malik has made quite a stir in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 with his pace bowling. The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has won 5 out of 7 games this season but the right-arm quick has pocketed the award for ‘fastest delivery of the game’ on all seven occasions. SRH fast-bowling coach Dale Steyn has continuously backed the youngster and in return, he has delivered some stunning results so far.
Amid his impressive start to the new IPL season, Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars’ owner Sameen Rana has drawn a similarity between Umran and Pakistan bowling sensation Haris Rauf.
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While speaking on paktv.tv, Rana said the PSL franchise has inspired Indian cricket with Harris’ inspirational journey. The fast bowler was picked by the Lahore Qalandars in 2018 without any experience in First-class cricket. A year later, he made his debut in the domestic circuit and eventually went on to don the Pakistan jersey in the following year.
“I am very happy that Lahore Qalandars have not just impressed Pakistan cricket but also Indian cricket. If you look at Umran Malik’s story, you will see that it has been a Haris-Rauf inspired story. Maybe they had followed Haris’ story and must have thought if it can happen in Pakistan, then why not in India. Because there are a lot of similarities. Both started from white-ball cricket, are from Jammu and Kashmir, no background in first-class cricket,” he said.
However, Umran had played for the Jammu and Kashmir team before joining the SRH in IPL 2021 as a short-term replacement for T Natarajan who contracted to Covid-19. The 21-year-old has represented his state in two First-Class games, one T20 and one List A game. After bursting into the scene last season, he joined the Team India bio-bubble in the UAE for the T20 World Cup 2021 as a net bowler.
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“I have never seen that happen in IPL before. And it happened until Haris, who became a success and gave others a new pathway. I hope it doesn’t happen to Umran, but we were criticised a lot when Haris was in our team that we killed domestic cricket and affected the sport. But today, he is Pakistan’s pride. When he goes abroad and plays for teams like Yorkshire, they call him ‘Pakistani superstar’. So we have given cricketers a new pathway and I want to take credit for that,” Rana added.
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