Steyn polishes Malik’s rough edges at SRH

A man of many firsts, Rasool was the first cricketer from Jammu & Kashmir to play for India in international cricket and the first from his state to get an IPL contract. An off-spinner and lower-order batter, he played 11 games in the IPL. He was part of the Pune Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad squads.

Part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad set-up since 2020. Samad's big-hitting prowess made Sunrisers retain him ahead of the 2022 auction, but he is yet to shine this season. A couple of low scores at the start of the season have seen the 20-year-old lose his place in the side.

Made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2019. But the pace bowler soon ran into trouble as BCCI banned him from all cricket for two years for age-fudging. Now back in the fold, the 22-year-old was picked by KKR this season and played a couple of games before a lower back injury ruled him out of the tournament.

MUMBAI: “Ball to main tez hi daalta hu, jab bhi khelta hu (I always bowl fast, whenever I play),” Umran Malik matter-offactly says in an interview with the broadcaster ahead of Friday night’s IPL game against Kolkata Knight Riders. The shrug of the shoulders and smile seems to suggest that bowling fast is the most natural thing to do.

It came as no surprise that for the fifth time in a row Malik held a ₹1 lakh cheque in hand, for bowling the fastest delivery of the match, which his Sunrisers Hyderabad won by seven wickets at the Brabourne stadium.

Apart from the speed gun constantly showing a spike due to the 22-year-old’s express pace, it was Malik’s best showing of this IPL. It was one match in which he marginally cut down pace for greater control.

His bowling figures this season, going into the KKR game, read 4-0-39-2, 3-0-29-0, 3-0-39-0 and 4-0-39-1.

Against KKR, Malik returned impressive figures of 4-0-27-2. It included bowling KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer with a straight yorker that made bowling coach Dale Steyn jump off his seat in celebration.

“The emotion in the dug-out was the joy for a young fast bowler getting such an important wicket for us,” Sunrisers

Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody said. “Umran has been embraced by the franchise, by the team. Everyone enjoys watching him bowl.”

Solid India prospect

Malik being the son of a fruitseller and a Jammu and Kashmir find, his story is bound to make national headlines the day he plays for India. But with every outing, more experts are joining the chorus that it is a matter of when, not whether, it will happen.

Malik reminds Danny Morrison, doing TV commentary, of Waqar Younis. Other pundits advise that care should be taken to preserve this talent. Steyn, who was a great swing bowler at pace, predicts Malik will feature heavily (for India) in the future.

It’s become common for Malik to invite fire emojis. After all, there are only a handful of fast bowlers who can touch 150kph every other delivery. Indians don’t usually generate that kind of pace. Those who have shown that ability like Varun Aaron—he has clocked 153kph—have found it tough to stay injury-free and grow into a consistent wicket-taking resource.

Working with Steyn

SRH having retained him before the auctions, rewarding him handsomely (₹4 crore) and roped in former Proteas great

Steyn to harness his skill, India is now looking at how the team polishes the diamond this season.

Malik has been expensive (economy 9.61) in his five matches this season. SRH think tank is not bothered as a lot of those runs have come behind the wicket, with batters top-edging him for boundaries or nudging him by using the pace.

“At the end of the day, when you are bowling over 150kph in this format, you are going to go for runs,” said Moody. “His role is to run in and express himself, be himself. He’s clearly still at the beginning of his journey and learning every single day. Having the likes of Steyn around him is an enormous boost for him. What we want to see is returns from how he bowls— that is wickets.”

Spaced out overs Essentially, Malik has been roped in to win matches for SRH. The team used him smartly on Friday.

His four overs were spaced out and he impressed in each one. To ease him into the contest, he was first brought on in the seventh over where the opposition normally takes fewer risks with the field having just opened up.

Malik kept pushing Iyer on to the back foot and got him out to a yorker when he came back to bowl the 10th over. In the 13th, Nitish Rana and Sheldon Jackson took the pacer on. But having gifted Jackson a wayward short ball at comfortable height, which was pulled for six, Malik made the adjustment—bouncer with similar pace, but rising a few inches higher and compelling the batter to pull from the off-stump. Jackson could not transfer his weight and top edged to fine-leg.

Skipper’s backing

“Never lose pace. Anyone can bowl 130/135 kph. But yes, some variety in his skills will take him a long way forward,” Steyn had recently tweeted. South Africa’s highest Test wicket-taker has taken Malik under his wings. “When Allan Donald congratulated me (in the dressing room) when I did something, it was fantastic. I kind of want to do the same thing for Umran,” he told the broadcaster.

Skipper Kane Williamson had confidence to hand Malik the 16th over for a face-off with Andre Russell. The powerful Jamaican had all the expertise to spoil Malik’s day and propel KKR’s total. But he could barely lay bat on ball against the quick’s short-ball barrage.

Which opposition wicket would you want, he was asked before the match. “Ek nahi, Russell vagera, sabke ho jaaye (not just one, let me get Russell and the others),” he said. He didn’t get Russell out in the end, but made it a night to remember, signed off by the team winning.