For those Indian fans hoping that India might one day have a battery of fast bowlers that consists of multiple options that can rev it up and touch 150 kmph and beyond, there was some good news in the ongoing Buchi Babu Trophy.
Umran Malik, who was seen as a future Indian fast bowling star with his strong action and ability to generate ridiculous pace, looked closer to his best as he took an extremely impressive wicket for Jammu and Kashmir.
Malik had missed a year’s worth of cricket as he battled fitness and searched for consistency in terms of his action and accuracy. Although he has always shown the raw pace and the sort of aggression a fast bowler needs, he was often criticised for being loose and errant with his lines and lengths. In this match against Odisha, however, Umran really hit the bullseye, sending the batter’s middle stump flying.
In a clip shared on social media, Malik can be watched taking a pair of wickets in quick succession. First, bowling his first over of the innings, he forced a chop-on back into the stumps, rushing the strike batter for pace and picking up a slightly fortunate scalp. However, Umran didn’t leave it up to fate for the next one on the very next ball of his spell as he returned for his second over: he charged in and pitched it perfectly, getting just a touch of movement, and rocketed a fast one through the bat-pad defence of the new batter.
A stump can just be seen cartwheeling off, but once the batters walks away, the damage takes shape: a wide gap between the two stumps, middle pole uprooted.
Will Malik ever be back in Indian team contention?
Umran is three years removed from his best season in the IPL, which took place in 2022 as he took 22 wickets and showed that he was a gem in the making, touching 157 kmph during a match for his team that season. However, struggles with control and a tendency to be expensive meant that he only got 10 T20Is and a handful of ODIs for India before he was removed from the team and asked to work on his craft.
Malik was picked up by KKR ahead of the 2025 IPL, but an injury forced him out: fans will want to see him back in action soon at the highest level, and will hope that age brings experience and game-smarts to this extremely talented bowler.