After completing the South Africa tour, Team India is all set to focus on the T20 series against Afghanistan series. BCCI unveiled the squad against Afghanistan. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli came back to the T20 team. Young pacer Umra Malik is not in the squad. Even a few times back, he was playing quite regularly. But in recent times, he has been out of the team. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra questioned about that.
Umran Malik’s Rise and India Debut:
Umran Malik is a rare talent in Indian cricket. The Jammu and Kashmir player came into the limelight in IPL 2022. In that season, he picked up 22 wickets. In front of his pace, renowned batters struggled. His raw pace ability makes him different from the other pacers. After that, he just rose through the ranks. In that year, Umran made his debut for India on June 26 against Ireland. He didn’t get any wickets in his debut match.
On November 25, 2022, he made his ODI debut for India. In that match, he picked up 2 wickets. After his debut, he played a few matches for India. But suddenly, he disappeared from the picture. Umran played his last T20 match for India on July 29, 2023. He played his last T20 match for India in February 2023.
Aakash Chopra on Umran Malik:
After having an exciting IPL season in 2022, Umran Malik was hyped up. He immediately got a chance in the India squad and played a few matches. He played eight matches and picked up just 5 wickets. After a certain time, he just disappeared from Team India’s scenario. Former Indian player Aakash Chopra talked about this. He said, “Till some time back, Umran Malik was everywhere. We took him to the West Indies as well and it seemed like he could be in the WC team too but now he is not there in any of the teams. He doesn’t even get selected for India A.”
Later he added, “ What happened within three months that a guy first gets selected for the Indian team, gets very minimum chances there, and then goes totally missing? We don’t even know where Umran Malik is. Why isn’t he there? We should know why this is happening.”
Now, the pacer is playing the Ranji Trophy for Jammu and Kashmir. In the first match, he conceded 36 runs but didn’t get any wickets. On January 12, they will face Delhi at the Jammu Hostel Ground JKCA.
Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
