Selection of pace sensation Umran Malik in Team India for T20I (Twenty20 International) series against South Africa in India is a proud moment for Jammu and Kashmir.
It is hoped that with his impressive performance at international level in coming times, the Jammu Express will make the country proud as well.
His selection in the national team will give further boost to the efforts to provide better infrastructure and environment for the talented cricketers in J&K so that more such players represent India internationally.
Immediately after Umran delivered the fastest ball of the IPL ( Indian Premier League) 2022 recently, he attracted the attention at national and international levels.
Former Indian captains including Little Master Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Muhammed Azharuddin expressed happiness over his arrival in a big way on cricket scene and were impressed with his fiery and threatening pace.
The way the fastest bowler of this IPL season kept on bowling accurately, more and more praise were showered on him by some of the greatest in the cricket world.
Umran kept on bowling 150 plus kmph (kilometres per hour) deliveries at regular intervals. He bowled the fastest ball of the season at 157 kmph.
Umran took 22 wickets in 14 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, in some matches his spell proved expensive and was advised by Shastri to focus also on better line and length.
Shastri also advised BCCI to keep on guiding the speedster and not to allow him to go astray. Impressed by his talent and performance in IPL 2022, BCCI lost no time in selecting Umran in the Indian T20 team.
Some former top cricketers want him to be selected for test matches also. However, that will first depend upon Umran’s performance in international T20 matches.
At international level besides his talent, handling of massive pressure by him will be key to his further success. India needs a successful pacer like him who can become a main strike bowler. There is no shortage of high quality spin and medium pace bowlers in the country.
But Umran can prove a special gift for the team if he is able to create fear consistently with his lightening speed and better line and length in the minds of batsmen from opposite teams and is able to get wickets.
Former cricketer Irfan Pathan, who groomed Umran initially, is very much optimistic like others, that Jammu Express will rise and shine internationally.