How can Umran Malik get back into contention? Mhambrey explains

Not too long ago, Jammu & Kashmir’s Umran Malik was the hottest fast bowling prospect in India.

Roped in as a replacement player mid-way through the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL), Umran left an instant impact, bowling absolute thunderbolts in the three appearances he made that season. 

The promise he showed led to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) retaining him ahead of the mega auction, and IPL 2022 saw the tearaway quick scalp a whopping 22 wickets, bamboozling batters with his pace. His breakthrough IPL 2022 led to debuts in ODIs and T20Is and Umran was soon touted to be a frontrunner to make India’s 2023 50-over World Cup squad.

However, post 2022, Umran’s career has gone downhill. He had a forgettable IPL 2023 - 5 wickets in 8 games at an average of 43.40 and economy of 10.85 - and played a solitary game in IPL 2024 despite being fit and available. 

The 24-year-old has not been setting the stage alight in domestic cricket, either, and has fallen completely out of the national picture, having not played for India in a year.

Speaking to The Indian Express, India’s outgoing bowling coach Paras Mhambrey asserted that, while Umran possesses a huge gift in the form of pace, lack of control is something that’s led to his downfall.

“I think one has to build talent. Someone having express pace is a rare commodity and you see potential in him. When he burst onto the scene bowling 145-148 (kmph) — I’m not someone who get carried away with the speed gun showing 160kpmh because I don’t think it is real – you realise pace was his strength,” Mhambrey told The Indian Express.

“He was definitely quick and was hitting the high 140kmphs regularly. To bowl consistently at that pace is good and he has done that. But how does he do that? In T20s, if you are not having control, you will struggle. Once you do that, you will lose the faith of the captain.”

How can Umran fix this issue? By playing plenty of red-ball first class cricket, according to Mhambrey.

“So one has to gain control and that will happen only if he plays Ranji Trophy. That is why we are pushing him to play Ranji Trophy because when he goes through a season, even under pressure, he will be able to execute his skillset.”

Umran, as it stands, has only made 12 first-class appearances in total, with only eight of them coming in the Ranji Trophy.

He averages 44.6 with the ball in FC cricket, having taken just 16 wickets in 17 innings.

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