In a warm-up match at Derby against Derbyshire, J&K born pacer Umran Malik was breathing fire against a Derbyshire side led by Pakistan Test cricketer Shan Masood.
Umran Malik, who was brought into the attack in the last over of the powerplay by captain Dinesh Karthik, had an impact immediately. The tearaway quick cleaned up Leus du Plooy for 9 after being hit for back-to-back boundaries in the first two deliveries of the over. Often criticised for being erratic, Umran was spot on with his lines and lengths on Friday.
He bowled a couple of tight overs and then was brought back for a second spell towards the end. In the last ball of his spell, Umran Malik showed why he is regarded as a special talent by many including greats like Dale Steyn. He ran in and bowled a length ball at high speed. Right-hander Brooke Guest, who was looking for quick runs, went for a big heave but failed to make any contact. The ball cannoned into the middle stump and sent it flying.
Watch the video here:
Umran Malik, who had a fantastic IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad not too long ago, ended up with figures of 2 for 31 in his four overs. This performance is set to hold Umran in good shape. He bowled a good last pressure under pressure when Ireland needed 17 runs to win the match by 4 runs for India in the second T20I in Dublin.
Coming back to the Derbyshire match, India’s bowlers did a fine job by restricting the hosts to 150 for 8. Apart from Umran Malik, left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh 2 for 29 while Axar Patel, and Venkatesh Iyer returned with a wicket apiece.
Deepak Hooda (56) and Suryakumar Yadav (36*) then great maturity as India chased the target down in just 16.4 overs with seven wickets in hand. Sanju Samson too made a valuable contribution of 38 batting at the top of the order.
India will play another practice match against Nottinghamshire on July 3 before the T20I series against England starting July 7.
