‘If I’m lucky, I’ll break that’: Umran Malik on breaking Shoaib Akhtar’s 161.3 kph delivery

Umran Malik, the top pacer for Team India, had a breakout year in 2022. The fast bowler consistently performed for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, finishing the campaign with 22 wickets in 14 games. His impressive performance in the IPL also led to his first call-up to the Indian cricket team in June for the T20I series against South Africa. Since then, Umran has played in three of the game’s shortest formats and five of the longer ones.

Umran is also a member of the teams for the T20I and ODI matches against Sri Lanka, which get underway on January 3. Umran frequently receives comparisons to one of Pakistan’s fastest bowlers, former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar, due to his incredible speeds. The Pakistani star has the fastest delivery time ever observed.

Naturally, Umran is frequently questioned about his intentions to surpass Akhtar’s illustrious record; nevertheless, the pacer insisted during an interview with News24 that he is only focused on playing well for India.

“At the moment, my only concern is doing well for the nation. I’ll shatter that if I do well and am fortunate. But I don’t even consider it,” Umran replied.

“During the game, you don’t get to realise how quickly you’ve bowled. We don’t realise how quick I was until we got home from the game. I only concentrate on taking wickets and bowling in the proper spots during the game, the 23-year-old bowler continued.