'He needs time': Former India opener feels Umran Malik is not ready for international cricket at present
Umran Malik has played 3 T20Is for India so far?
Umran Maik has been fast-tracked into the Indian team after his exploits for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but has failed to impress in a few opportunities that he has managed to get for Team India so far. Umran was included in India's squad for the South Africa T20I series at home following the conclusion of IPL 2022 but failed to get a game.
He made his dream debut for India in the first T20I against Ireland in Dublin last month and played both games in the series. The pace sensation was also part of India's playing in the 3rd T20I of the recently-concluded three-match T20I series against England.
In the three T20Is he has played for India so far, Umran has conceded 129 runs while managing 4 wickets. In the third T20I against England, he was taken to the cleaners by the host batters in Nottingham and ended up conceding 56 runs off his 4 overs in the game.
Speaking about Umran's poor show with the ball in his first few games for India, former India opener Aakash Chopra said the young pacer is still not ready for international cricket despite being an outstanding talent. Umran is India's quickest bowler at present and has the ability to consistently clock over 150 kmph.
However, he is still not a finished product and has several areas to work on and improve before he can be a regular feature in the Indian playing XI. Chopra believes Umran has something which is a rare commodity - pace but needs time to get to the level where he can play for India regularly.
"Umran Malik has something that others don’t have extreme pace. You can’t teach that to anyone. You can teach everything else line and length, yorker, bouncer, slower ones. But you can’t teach someone how to bowl with speed. You are either born a pacer or born a medium-pacer,” said Chopra speaking in a video on his YouTube channel.
“No doubt, he has the pace. But what I feel is that Umran Malik is not ready for international cricket as of now. It is very simple, he needs time. He hasn’t played a lot of cricket and so he is still raw,” he added.