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Cricket Players‘If I was BCCI…’: Michael Vaughan tweets name of player who'll ‘play for India soon’
The latest addition to the Umran Malik fan club is Michael Vaughan. The former England captain believes Malik will "play for India very soon" provided the BCCI sends him to play county cricket for further development.
The first delivery that Umran Malik bowled against Gujarat Titans was a fiery bouncer that smashed into Hardik Pandya's helmet. The Gujarat Titans captain would admit after the match that it "woke him up". The next two deliveries however were hit for consecutive fours, speaking a lot about how unperturbed Pandya is nowadays to pace and bounce. But in a larger context, it also summed up Umran Malik. With an ability to clock 150 km/h - he did bowl the fastest delivery of IPL 2022 at 153 on Monday - Malik has been seen as the next big thing. But his biggest roadblock has been his lack of consistency to hit certain areas regularly, resulting in him leaking far too many runs for comfort.
There are, however, a lot of things to like about Malik as a fast bowler apart from his enviable pace. The Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer has an athlete-like physique, a smooth run-up, good load up and a strong release - All of them indicating that he has a bright future.
The latest addition to the Umran Malik fan club is Michael Vaughan. The former England captain believes Malik will "play for India very soon" provided the BCCI sends him to play county cricket for further development.
"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," tweeted Vaughan.
Vaughan was not the only one predicting a bright future for Malik at the international level. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who had seen the right-arm pacer from Jammu and Kashmir when he was with the Indian side as a net bowler, said Malik is likely to play for India sooner rather than later. Shastri too advised the BCCI and the national selectors to keep a close watch on Malik and perhaps keep him at the National Cricket Academy to fine-tune his skills.
Malik was retained by SRH ahead of this year's IPL. He has picked up only three wickets in his four outings so far in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League.
