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Jammu and Kashmir pacer Umran Malik fast-tracked his place into the Indian white-ball team with his impressive performances in the Indian Premier League. The 22-year-old pacer has the ability to consistently clock the 150kph mark which has been an x-factor for Malik and he has shown it in the recent past. However, the right-arm quick has been on the expensive side more often than not.
On his international debut, Umran Malik conceded 14 runs in his first over. In the second game that he played, the 22-year-old ended with a bowling figure of 4-0-42-1 against Ireland. The chain of conceding runs continued for Umran against England as well where he leaked almost 60 runs (56 to be precise) in the third T20I. And this is the reason, former cricketer Aakash Chopra feels Malik is not ready for international cricket.
The cricketer-turned commentator and analyst has said that Umran Malik might have the extreme pace but that does not make him ready for the highest level. The young pacer needs time to get better which he will.
“Umran Malik has something that others don’t have - extreme pace. You can’t teach that to anyone. You can teach everything else - line and length, yorker, bouncer, slower ones. But you can’t teach someone how to bowl with speed. You are either born a pacer or born a medium-pacer."
“No doubt, he has the pace. But what I feel is that Umran Malik is not ready for international cricket as of now. It is very simple, he needs time. He hasn’t played a lot of cricket and so he is still raw," Chopra said in the Q and A session on his YouTube channel.
Chopra further said that Arshdeep Singh is a more complete bowler compared to Malik as he has a sound brain and great control over his bowling. “Arshdeep is better prepared for international cricket. He has been playing consistently. He is a left-armer who nails those yorkers. He’s got the brains also, though he doesn’t have the pace. Experience counts for everything. Arshdeep, in my opinion, is a more complete bowler compared to Umran Malik,” he concluded his point.