'If it can happen in Pakistan, then why not in India?' - Lahore Qalandars owner spots similarities between Umran Malik, Haris Rauf

Lahore Qalandars owner Sameen Rana has said that Umran Malik has been groomed by the Indian team in the same manner as Haris Rauf was groomed by Pakistan. Malik was one of the finds of IPL 2021 after being roped in by the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad as a replacement of T Natrajan, who contracted Covid-19. The speedster from Jammu and Kashmir had the ability to hit speeds above 150 Kmph consistently, which is a rare commodity in Indian cricket.

In fact, right after last season, Malik was called up for the Indian side as a net bowler and he managed to impress the captain and the coach with his raw pace. Subsequently, the SRH side retained the pacer ahead of the mega auction and it has proved to be an excellent decision so far. The 22-year-old has picked up ten wickets in seven games so far in IPL 2022 and has been getting better and better with each game. Under the guidance of Dale Steyn, Malik has definitely got a chance to learn a lot and he is expected to be part of the Indian side as well.

We have given cricketers a new pathway and I want to take credit for that: Sameen Rana

Rana mentioned that he is delighted with Malik’s story and said that the young pacer can be successful like Rauf, who did not have much first-class experience with him. He also said that he hopes Malik isn’t criticised for not having first-class cricket experience.

“I am very happy that Lahore Qalandars have not just impressed Pakistan cricket but also Indian cricket. If you look at Umran Malik’s story, you will see that it has been a Haris Rauf-inspired story. Maybe they had followed Haris’ story and must have thought if it can happen in Pakistan, then why not in India. Because there are a lot of similarities. Both started from white-ball cricket, are from Jammu and Kashmir, no background in first-class cricket,” Rana told while Speaking on paktv.com.

“I have never seen that happen in IPL before. And it happened until Haris, who became a success and gave others a new pathway. I hope it doesn’t happen to Umran, but we were criticised a lot when Haris was in our team that we killed domestic cricket and affected the sport. But today, he is Pakistan’s pride. When he goes abroad and plays for teams like Yorkshire, they call him ‘Pakistani superstar’. So we have given cricketers a new pathway and I want to take credit for that,” he added.