Wasim Jaffer lavishes praise on Umran Malik after T20I performance against Sri Lanka
Umran Malik after taking a wicket [Source: Associated Press]
Umran Malik stole the limelight with his sheer pace in the recently concluded T20I series against Sri Lanka, where the youngster was the leading wicket-taker. Apart from pace, Jammu and Kashmir displayed discipline and tactics during his spells, which has found praise from former India opener Wasim Jaffer.
Criticised for his lack of line and length in earlier matches, the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler made good use of the slower ball all across the three-T20I series.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Jaffer said that Malik's improvement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been substantial for everyone to witness.
Malik picked up 22 wickets in IPL 2022, to earn a white-ball call-up for India, so far featuring in 5 ODIs, and 6 T20Is.
Here's what Jaffer said
"I thought he has improved considerably. Since I saw him in the IPL, I thought he will always be expensive in this format because he doesn’t have too many variations or slower balls. When you bowl at 145-150 clicks, sometimes you have to beat the batters with the lack of pace as well.
He’s also got that wicket-taking ability. He has been expensive in the games, but he has picked up crucial wickets. So, he has shown considerable improvements since I saw him in the IPL,”
It will be interesting to see if Malik gets a look in the ODI XI, with players like Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Siraj back in the reckoning with the first ODI scheduled for January 10.
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