File photo of Brett Lee.© Instagram
Australis’s bowling legend Brett Lee has advised Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and the team management to give right-arm pacer Umran Malik more games. Umran, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, rose to fame in the Indian Premier League due to his sensational bowling speed. He has some sheer pace and he comfortably crosses 150 kmph. IPL 2022 saw the pacer putting up a superb show that eventually helped him gain a place in the India squad. Umran was included in the Indian team for the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against Australia, but he did not get any game.
“Umran Malik is a wonderful bowler. He is a special talent. If his workload is taken care of properly, he will do wonders,” Lee told TimesofIndia.com.
“I believe he (Umran) can play all three formats of the game. We must manage him correctly. The best way to manage him correctly is to allow him to bowl, give him as many games as possible, don’t rest him in every second game. Just don’t let him go into the gym more and lift heavy weights. He should do light muscle mass in the gym which is important for him. He should work on his sprinting and obviously his core strengthening,” he added.
For the India pace department, Umran Malik’s emergence came as a breath of fresh air. With terrifying pace, Malik offers a commodity that is rare in Indian cricket – express pace. He performed brilliantly for SunRisers Hyderabad in Indian Premier League (IPL) and was fast-tracked into the Indian team for the limited-overs formats. He has so far played eight ODIs (13 wickets) and eight T20Is (11 wickets). However, he has often been wayward with his line and length. His economy in ODIs is 6.45 RPO while in T20Is it’s 10.48.
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