Umran Malik has impressed one and all with his pace in the ongoing IPL.
The 22-year-old has clocked 150 kmph on a regular basis in the cash-rich league. In 7 matches so far, he has claimed 10 wickets at an economy of 8.23.
With his exploits, Umran Malik has gained praise from legends such as Dale Steyn and Sunil Gavaskar, who feel that the Jammu and Kashmir lad has everything in him to play for India.
Umran's father Abdul Rashid is also confident that his son will soon get the chance to wear the Indian team jersey.
"My only dream now is to see my son in an Indian team jersey. I want him to play in the World Cup someday. I am sure he will. He has reached this level and I am confident he will get there very soon. He will make the entire country proud," he said while speaking to TOI.
Rashid also revealed that Umran was very happy when former India captains MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli spoke highly of him and hailed him as the "future of Indian cricket".
"Umran discussed some of those things with me. MS Dhoni is a legend of the game. Virat Kohli is also a great cricketer. Umran met both of them. They have told Umran that he is the future of Indian cricket. When Umran called me to share this with me, he was extremely happy. He was elated after listening to those golden words from the two legends of the game," Rashid said.
Recently, SRH’s pace-bowling coach Dale Steyn said that Umran Malik will soon play international cricket for India.
“Umran will play international cricket, no doubt about that. He bowls at 150kmph consistently, and nobody else is doing that in the world right now, maybe Lockie Ferguson is the other guy who does it, but they are very different bowlers. But from an Indian point of view, he is the only guy that consistently bowls over 145-150kmph every single ball, so he will play for India. But how India manages him is completely up to them,” Steyn told Sportstar last week.