10 overs 125 runs, 0 wickets: With honeymoon period over, should Umran Malik tame his pace?

J&K born pacer Umran Malik is probably the most talked-about cricketer in the world these days. The fiery speedster has garnered a lot of press recently as he broke records after records in pace bowling during the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Malik has bowled a delivery at 157 kmph recently, the fastest in IPL ever. Even after his fifer against Gujarat Titans on April 27, Sunrisers ended up losing the match. Umran’s toe-crushing yorkers, however, brought back the old memories of fast-bowlers dominating the game.

Umran became an overnight hero, with players, politicians, and cricket pundits calling for his fast-track induction into the national side. Umran was on cloud 9. And then…reality dawned on him and everyone else.

Cricket is the best equalizer and it rightly showed how things can turn in a jiffy. In the next three matches, Umran has been thrashed by one and all. His figures are, for the lack of words, disheartening.

In three matches since his April 27 one-match wonder show, Umran has conceded 125 runs in 10 overs without getting any wicket.

The honeymoon period is over for this J&K lad. It is time for him to wake up and face the reality of international cricket.

Ravi Shastri, former India head coach, has rightly pointed out that if Umran does not bowl in the right areas his 156 kmph deliveries will go for 256 off the bat.

“The pace is good, but you got to get it in your mind that you have to get it in the right areas. Otherwise, just hold yourself back and use that space sparingly, to surprise the batter. Those kinds of thoughts should go through your mind,” Shastri said speaking to Star Sports.

“If you don’t get it right, you are going to fetch and fetch big time. It goes off the bat at 250 to 300 knots!” he warned Umran Malik.

“The pitches will slow up as the tournament progresses. We’ve seen seam movement that existed in the first two-three weeks is not there and the pitches are better for batting. So he has got to get it right,” Shastri said.

“I’m seeing the media and everywhere it say 156, 154 – it doesn’t matter in this format. You have to get it in the right areas and he hasn’t. If he attacks the stumps he will be far more consistent. 156, 157 – very good, excellent – but channelise it in the right direction,” he said.

Former India cricketer and the director of cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), VVS Laxman has also advised Umran Malik, to focus on his game and learn to understand how to stay away from the ‘on and off’ field distractions.

“When you are playing at the highest level, very soon you realise that you have to control your actions (off the field). There will be so many advisors, so many expectations to fulfil but players who play at the highest level very soon cordon all that off and focus on what is to be done,” Laxman told reporters on the sidelines of a Dream Set Go event. “I am sure Umran or anyone who plays for the country will learn that very soon. The sooner they learn that they will be successful. So no need of bouncers (around him), it is important to bowl bouncers,” said Laxman.