Brett Lee lavishes huge praise on Umran Malik, compares SRH's ‘top guy' to legendary Pakistan pacer

Former Australian pacer Brett Lee has heaped praise on Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) new find Umran Malik. Malik, the son of a fruit vendor from Kashmir, has made heads turn in the recently-concluded IPL 2022 edition. The 22-year-old Indian pacer had a sensational season, where he clocked 150kph on a regular basis and also returned with as many as 22 wickets at anaverage of 20.18 in 14 games.

Lee not only praised Umran for his raw pace, the ex-Aussie pacer compared the youngster to Pakistan's legendary speedster Waqar Younis. For the unversed, Younis churned out 373 and 416wickets in Tests and ODIs, respectively,in his illustrious career.

"I am a big fan. I think Umran Malik has got a lot of pace to burn. He is a competitor, a top guy, who runs in like a lot of fast bowlers in the past. Waqar Younis is the person who comes to mind," Brett Lee told ANI.

Umran did leak runs in several games, however, he improved his line and lengths despite losing pace. Thus, he won the 'fastest delivery of the match' award in every game for the SRH (14 straight times). Thus, he will be eager to live upto high expectations and soon debut for India across formats.

Lee also opined on Virat Kohli's barren run in IPL 2022, where he ended with 341 runs at a strike rate of 115.98 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). "I am a massive Kohli fan like a lot of people in the world. I just hope that he really gets his opportunity. He just needs some time out. Spend some time with his family, get reset and hopefully, we can see him scoring some hundreds," said Lee about the former India and RCB captain.