‘Let him flourish as a bowler, his wicket-taking intent was good’ - Zaheer Khan reviews Umran Malik’s ODI debut

Former India pacer Zaheer Khan felt that Umran Malik did well on his ODI debut against New Zealand and felt that he needs to be given a lot of freedom to flourish. The Jammu & Kashmir speedster returned with figures of 2 for 66 in his ten overs which included the priceless scalps of Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell in his exciting first spell. 

In fact, Umran clocked 153.1 Kmph on the speed gun in his third over to Mitchell which turned out to be his quickest of the game and never seemed to fall out of gas at any time. The 23-year-old kept steaming in which is a great positive going forward for the Indian side despite the seven-wicket loss. Speaking on Umran’s debut, Zaheer praised him for sticking to his strengths.  

“He was great. He started very well. And the pace that everyone has been talking about that is his strength, he backed it. Towards the latter half, there are some learnings for sure but it’s just the first game for him at this level. It is about going out there, enjoying the moment, and giving it all. I think he had a good debut,” Zaheer told Amazon Prime video. 

Umran is someone who is probably not thinking about runs: Zaheer Khan 

Zaheer Khan further appreciated Umran’s wicket-taking intent and praised him for his body language on debut. He added that Umran did the right thing by bowling quick while showing control too and concluded by saying that he needs to be given breathing space to flourish more.  

“You can overlook the runs right now but what is important for a bowler like him, who is bowling at that kind of pace, is the wicket-taking intent. That was good, and the body language was good too. All the little fine-tuning he will figure as he moves along in his career. But what’s important is that he should back his strength and look to bowl as quick as possible. He showed decent control and should continue with that,” he added. 

“You need variety in your bowling attack. You have used different bowlers for different things. When you look at Umran, you have got to look at him as a wicket-taker. Let him flourish as a bowler who is going to be that striker of your attack. He is someone who is probably not thinking about runs. He will leak runs in the process but you have got to take it in your stride and just back him to be free. That is something which is very important.”