First coach Manhas recalls Umran terrorising Ranji batters at nets
It was business as usual for coach Randhir Singh Manhas during a winter day in 2017 when a 17-year-old boy walked up to him during a net session at the Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu's Nawabad Area.
"Sir, kya aap mujhe ball daalne dengey? (Could you allow me to bowl)," Manhas remembered the short and stout boy's request while senior state team batter Jatin Wadhawan was having a knock at the nets.
"What's your name?" "Umran Malik," replied the boy, who had dropped in at the net session without bowling spikes. Manhas obliged but till date, he has failed to figure out whether it was his gut feel or just wanting to be indulgent with a young boy, that made him agree to the request. He had a bowler short at the nets, though. Whatever it was, Manhas' role in giving a precocious talent wings to fly is beyond doubt.
The seeds of the express pace deliveries that Umran is hurling at the best of batters under intense pressure on a platform like the IPL, were sown that very day at the MA Stadium.
It was the birth of Umran Malik, the fastest bowler in the history of Indian cricket, who has made heads turn with 15 wickets in just eight games in this edition of the T20 league.
"On that day, he was very quick for a 17year-old as Jatin, who was a first-class player was hurried by him.
"In my mind, I knew that the kid was special and my views were seconded by our senior team pacer Ram Dayal, who had then just reached the ground and saw him bowl. Ram told me that this boy had bright future," Manhas, the coach of the Jammu District Cricket Council said.
Umran is not a product of the system but despite the system, and his rise can be attributed to that.
He didn't receive any structured coaching till the age of 17, never played with a leather ball, and all he did was to play in the 'Mohalla' tennis ball tourneys, from which any teenager could earn anything between Rs 500 to Rs 3000 per match depending on the reputation.
Having impressed the coach, Umran was asked to enrol in the academy but Manhas recollected that in the initial days in 2017-18, he was never a regular.