Umran Malik’s hard work pays off; included in India’s T20I squad against South Africa

Jammu and Kashmir has a reason to celebrate after speedster Umran Malik was included in Team India for the T20I series against South Africa.

The Board of Cricket Control of India announced the T20I Squad after selectors met today. The T20 team includes KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

Umran Malik has been on a song in IPL 2022. He became the youngest player to take 20-wickets in any IPL season. Umran Malik took his tally to 21 during a match-winning spell for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.

He became the youngest Indian bowler to pick up 20 or more wickets in an IPL season, breaking Jasprit Bumrah’s 2017 record. Umran Malik is 22 years and 176 days. Jasprit Bumrah was 23 years and 165 days old when he became the youngest bowler to pick up 20 wickets in IPL 2017.

RP Singh was 23 years and 166 days old when he took 20 wickets in IPL 2009. Likewise, Pragyan Ojha was 23 years and 225 days old when he achieved the milestone in IPL 2010

J&K-born pacer Umran Malik has broken the IPL record after he bowled a maiden 20th over and picked up three wickets against Punjab Kings.

Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad player became only fourth bowler in IPL history to bowl a maiden 20th over. Irfan Pathan, Lasith Malinga, and Jaydev Unadkat had achieved the feat.

Malik, who was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2022, is already one of the fastest bowlers in India. However, though he has sent down deliveries over 150kmph this season, the Jammu and Kashmir player has picked up only three wickets this season in four matches, conceding at 10.42 runs an over.

SRH retained him for Rs 4 crore along with captain Kane Williamson and all-rounder Abdul Samad, also from Jammu and Kashmir.

Coming from a humble background, Malik’s father runs a fruit stall in Jammu. A class X dropout, Malik is the only brother of his elder sisters.

Last season, Umran Malik was with the SunRisers as a net bowler. But after T Natarajan tested positive for COVID, Malik has named his replacement.

Malik made his competitive debut last year. He has picked a total of four wickets having played one T20 and List A match for Jammu and Kashmir. Malik made his T20 debut for Jammu and Kashmir in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January last year. In his T20 debut vs Railways, he returned with the impressive figures of 3/24nt.