Umran Malik (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images) After recovering from injury, fast bowler Umran Malik is eager to return to the Indian cricket team. He relies on his natural ability to aim at speeds in excess of 150 km/h, along with newly developed skills such as slower deliveries and improved yorkers.Malik has been absent from the Indian team since July 2023 after taking 24 wickets in 10 ODIs and 8 T20Is. Despite the setbacks, he maintains a positive outlook.
IPL retentions, releases and trades: burning questions ahead of deadline
“I will tell you one thing. Those who bowl 150 are not strike bowlers; they are attacking bowlers. They will be hit for 30 (runs) in four (overs) but they will also give you wickets. A fast bowler is like that. He should know what to do,” Umran told select media after the J&K Syed Mushtaq Ali Pradesh vs Syed Mushtaq Ali Pradesh match.“A bowler who bowls at 150 km/h knows he’s the king and he has to back up. Not everyone can bowl 150 km/h. It takes real guts to do 150 km/h and I’ve been doing it for the last five years.”“Bowling 150 km/h is an art, you can’t go straight from 137 to 145. Train, do what you want – it’s natural, it’s all natural. You have to train accordingly, eat right, rest right, keep your body fresh to be ready for the process tomorrow. Speed is my natural aspect, how can I compromise on this – Training, running I have no strength, cardio diet. I have to regain strength.”Umran faced many injuries and illnesses but never lost faith in his abilities.“It’s not that I’m feeling bad mentally. I know I’ll do well now. I’ll be back in the Indian team. I have confidence in myself because I’m the only one bowling 150. But now I’m also bowling slower (balls) which I’m working on and the york as well. I’m doing it in the red-ball formats, when they pick me hard there, they let me play.” Now I am able to play for India again,” he continued.Despite stiff competition in India’s white-ball bowling unit, Umran remains confident. “When I played earlier, there was so much competition. Now the competition is the same. I don’t think there is any competition. When I’m fully fit and taking wickets like this, why don’t they let me play? They let me play if I take wickets. That’s all,” he added.The 26-year-old pacer has set a clear goal of becoming J&K’s highest wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.“I have a simple goal: to play all the matches (for my home state) and become my team’s highest wicket-taker in Syed Mushtaq Ali,” he stated.Umran has already taken five wickets in two matches, including 3/37 against UP where he dismissed key players with his pace.“Anybody can get injured. Any batsman, bowler, fielder, anybody can get injured. You just have to know how to get out of it,” he added.“I never think about my career. I think about what I have to do the next day, what training I have to do – bowling, batting, fielding. It’s all in God’s hands, who has a career and who doesn’t.”“If your mindset is stable, I think you will perform better after an injury. Now it feels good when the ball is coming out of my hand nicely. When a bowler is in full rhythm after an injury, I think it is the best for him. I think injury also teaches you a lot of things… your mindset, your body, what to do. If we play cricket for 10 years, you will have a strong set-up to keep your mind, to be positive. You have to keep your mindset. during injuries, stay away from negative people.”Dismissing concerns about losing pace with age, he adds: “You can never bowl to 150 straight away. You can bowl 138, 140, 142. That’s how it starts. I think as long as I’m playing I should be positive. I don’t want to show anybody pace. I want to show my wickets. Even if I’m going from 150 to 10,150, that means it will be after 10,150 years. 135 or 130.”On his red-ball cricket aspirations, Umran remains open to all formats: “There is nothing else. Yes, I am ready to play in all formats.”
