Mumbai: The legendary Sunil Gavaskar has pitched for young pace sensation Umran Malik’s inclusion in the Indian team for the upcoming England tour following his stunning five-wicket haul against Gujarat Titans in the IPL here.
The 22-year-old Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer from Jammu produced one of the most fiery spells of fast bowling in the IPL history, snapping five wickets for 25 runs on Wednesday night.
But his breathtaking effort went in vain as Rashid Khan (31 not out off 11 balls) and Rahul Tewatia (40 not out in 21 balls) scored 56 from the last four overs, including 22 from the final six deliveries, to take the Titans home in a last-ball thriller.
“The next for him, I think is the Indian team,” former India skipper Gavaskar said during his commentary after the game.
“He might not play in the XI because India have got Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. So, he might not play.
“But just travelling with the group, travelling with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, sharing the dressing room with them… just look what is going to happen to him!”
The young pace sensation has been clocking in excess of 150 kph consistently throughout the season and has picked up 15 wickets in eight matches at 15.93 average.
Introduced into the attack as late as the eighth over, Malik bowled devastatingly quick deliveries to scythe through the Gujarat Titans top-order, becoming the first IPL bowler to pick up all the first five wickets of an innings.
He rattled Shubman Gill’s off stump for his first wicket, before removing Hardik Pandya with a combination of pace and bounce.
Next, he produced a perfect 153 kmph thunderbolt yorker to smash the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha, before cleaning up both David Miller and Abhinav Manohar to sign off with a five-for.
India’s tour of England starts in June with the visitors playing the final Test of the five-match series, which was abandoned last year due to COVID-19, from July 1 to 5, before embarking on a three-match T20 series and playing as many ODIs.
India will begin the UK tour with two T20Is against Ireland in Dublin, starting June 26.
