'Despite working with Steyn for so long...': Sehwag brutally hammers Umran Malik after dismal IPL 2023

Umran Malik had a poor IPL campaign in 2023, finishing with only five wickets to his name in 8 matches.

Sunrisers Hyderabad ended a dismal 2023 Indian Premier League campaign with a loss against Mumbai Indians on Sunday afternoon. The side, batting first, posted a strong score of 200/5 in 20 overs but was let down by its bowling unit, as Rohit Sharma's men chased down the target with two overs to spare. MI all-rounder Cameron Green smashed his maiden IPL century in the final ball of the chase, as they qualified for the playoffs after RCB – the other competitor for playoff berth – lost its final match against Gujarat Titans later in the night.

Kolkata: Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketer Umran Malik warms up before the IPL 2023 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Friday, April 14, 2023. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra)(PTI04_14_2023_000305A)(PTI)

The Sunrisers had made a couple of changes to their XI in the match against MI, also including an out-of-form Umran Malik in the lineup. SRH captain Aiden Markram drew criticism in the side's previous game against RCB when he revealed he didn't know the reason behind Umran's absence in the playing XIs; the pacer had made 7 appearances for the side till then.

However, the speedster failed to make a mark in the SRH's final match of the season as well, conceding 41 runs off three overs. Former India opener Virender Sehwag was critical of the Indian pacer, insisting that he hasn't picked Dale Steyn's brain despite working with him for some time now.

As Sehwag dissected SRH's bowling performance, he spoke about Umran. “You can only win by dismissing those batters. (Markram had kept) Fine leg, square leg, and deep midwicket, and asked the bowler to bowl a back-of-the-length delivery. But the batters didn't make a mistake. SRH took the chance, but the batters smashed them all around the park,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

"The bowlers weren't pretty good. The captain could've asked them to keep one of long-on and long-off. The thing was, you failed to stop the flow of runs altogether.

“If it were a South African pacer, I could've understood that he wouldn't want to bowl too full. But Umran Malik... the problem is that he keeps shuffling his length. He doesn't have the experience yet. He might have worked a lot with Dale Steyn, but he hasn't really got the idea of his length. Despite working with Steyn for so long and learning under him, he's doing the same mistakes that he did last year,” Sehwag said.

Umran ended his IPL 2023 campaign with only five wickets to his name in 8 matches, conceding at a poor economy rate of 10.85.