Give Central Contract To Umran Malik Straight Away: Ravi Shastri
Mumbai: Ex-India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that the BCCI should give the central contract to SRH fast bowler Umran Malik “straight away”.
The former India all-rounder’s remarks came after he made another impressive performance for SRH in the IPL 2022 match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
“Central contract straightaway for him (Umran Malik). Don’t let him float around, keep him in the mix with the main players and let him learn by being around the Shamis and bumrahs and see the way they train, the way they manage their workload but don’t let him go astray,” Shastri told ESPNCricinfo.
Malik conceded runs in his first over of the match but in his second spell, he made an impact with the wickets of Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma and Daniel Sams. Malik used his greatest strength – pace – to take out the MI batsmen. He first bowled Ishaan Kishan’s body, taunted him for room and got him caught in the deep. The right-arm seamer then dismissed Verma and Sams with equal deliveries, which were short hit and hit to the body. Both Verma and Sam were in a hurry on their respective shots and eventually took easy catches in the inner circle.
Malik returned with figures of 3/23 in his 3 overs in the match which SRH won by 3 runs.
Shastri said that Malik needs to be more consistent with his line and attack the stumps more without reducing his pace.
“Just ask him to do what he does best. Bowl fast… Also, educate him about the lines you’ve got to bowl. Tell him to focus on those three stumps What you get right first. After that, you can try and learn any other skills you want to add. And I promise you this guy is gonna be a handful in red-ball cricket. If you add this guy to Bumrah and Shami I think the Indian attack is going to be a serious one.
“I think he’ll get better and better. Look at the lines he is bowling now. You don’t want him to cut down on pace. The last thing you’d want to tell him is while looking for control you cut down on pace. What you want him to do is get his lines right. If he can attack the stumps consistently varying his length, he will trouble anyone. And he can really rattle a new guy coming in because he’s got the pace, he can keep the batter on his toes but it’s that line if he can hit the right areas without reducing his pace, it’ll make a huge difference,” Shastri added.
Malik, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, is currently the fourth-highest wicket-taker of IPL 2022, taking 21 wickets in 13 matches. He also bowled the fastest in the tournament at 157 km/h and is believed by many to have the potential to do better.
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