File photo of Umran Malik and Rohit Sharma© AFP
Former Australia pacer Glenn McGrath was all praise for India fast bowler Umran Malik, saying that sheer pace is unique and that cannot be taught to any bowler in the world. Umran impressed everyone with his pace during the Indian Premier League 2022, clocking over 150 kph regularly. As a result, the Jammu and Kashmir pacer recently made his debut for India during the T20I series against Ireland. While several experts have suggested that Umran should focus more on line and length instead of pace. However, McGrath said that he hates seeing fast bowlers sacrificing pace to attain control.
“I haven’t seen a huge amount of Umran Malik but the fact that he can bowl at a good pace is impressive. Sheer pace is unique. You can’t teach someone to bowl 150-plus, they’ve got to be able to naturally do that. I hate seeing bowlers slow down to get control. I like to see bowlers working harder on control, putting the time and effort in the nets to get to know their game while still bowling at top pace. Because someone who bowls at excess of 150 kph is very rare. I don’t like to see express pacers slow down to get control,” McGrath told Cricket.com in an interview.
Umran conceded 98 runs in the two games he played against Ireland and England, picking up just two wickets.
As a result, he was dropped from the team for the T20I series against West Indies, as well as the upcoming Asia Cup.
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