Out-of-favour Pakistan fast bowler Sohail Khan has downplayed the pace of India’s Umran Malik. The Jammu and Kashmir pacer rose to fame in IPL 2021 with the eye-catching speed in his bowling. Umran usually bowls over 145 kmph and has also clocked 155 of late at international level. IPL 2022 saw Umran putting up a superb show that eventually helped him gain a place in the India squad. So far, he has has played 8 ODIs and as many T20Is, scalping 13 and 11 wickets, respectively.
However, Sohai feels that Umran’s pace is not special and that Pakistan has a lot of such bowlers in domestic cricket, who can bowl at his speed.
“I feel this Umran Malik guy is a good bowler. I’ve seen him in 1-2 matches. He runs fast and has kept other things in check as well. But if you think of fast bowlers with speed in excess of over 150-155 kmph, I can count 12-15 players right now who play tape-ball cricket. If you go visit the trials organised by Lahore Qalandars, you’ll find many players,” Sohail said in Hindi on a YouTube video by Nadir Ali.
“Our domestic setup is filled with bowlers like Umran Malik. When a bowler comes through in our domestic level, he becomes a bonafide bowler. Like Shaheen, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf… these are bowlers who know their stuff. I can give you plenty of names,” he added.
