Srinagar: West Indies legend Brian Lara has backed Team India pace sensation Umran Malik and said that J&K pacer would be a sensation but has to learn quickly.
Umran Malik burst onto the scene in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Malik made his debut in June 2022 during India’s tour of Ireland. Since then, he has played 10 ODIs and taken 13 wickets and eight T20Is with 11 wickets. He is yet to make his Test debut and has played just seven first class matches in his career. In the IPL, Umran had a highly successful season in 2022, taking 22 wickets in 14 matches with an average of 20.18 and economy of 9.03. In the 2023 season though, Umran managed just five wickets in the eight matches he was picked in and his economy and average shot up to 10.85 and 43.40 respectively.
“He will be a sensation, but very quickly he will have to learn that fast bowling really does not trouble the best players in the world. You have to have the ability to do something with the ball, be sensible, and maybe understand times when you have to trickle back or understand the times when you have to up the tempo. He is very young and has got a lot of years ahead of him,” said Brian Lara on the YouTube channel ‘Wake Up With Sorabh’.
“We have had so many different examples. Wasim Akram was raw pace, Malcolm Marshall had destructive pace, and Michael Holding. But they all know that at some point in time, they had to come with a lot more tricks than just being able to bowl fast. If he (Umran Malik) works with Dale Steyn, he could definitely be one of the best India could produce.”
Umran’s last match for India was the second ODI against the West Indies. In the three overs he bowled, Umran conceded 27 runs and couldn’t get a wicket as India lost the match by six wickets.