Manjrekar drew comparison between Umran and England fast bowler Mark Wood.
The Jammu and Kashmir lad has represented the country in 8 ODIs and as many T20Is so far, claiming a total of 24 wickets.
During the white-ball series against Sri Lanka earlier this year, Umran touched the speed of 156 km/h, which is the fastest delivery bowled by an Indian pacer in international cricket.
While Umran Malik failed to live up to the expectations in the IPL 2023 season and often receives flak for his poor line and length, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has urged the selectors to give a chance to the tearaway pacer in red-ball cricket.
Manjrekar drew comparison between Umran and England fast bowler Mark Wood, who produced a match-winning performance for England in the third Ashes Test at Headingley last week.
"I believe if you have to pick Umran, give him a chance in Test cricket because we saw when Mark Wood played the last Ashes Test, a guy who can bowl 90 miles per hour, his specialty is that the tail-enders don't stay against him for long. So if you have to see Umran Malik, instead of white-ball cricket, if you have a Test series that is not that high-profile, give him a chance there, three-four over spells. So he will be an X-factor in our bowling," Manjrekar told News 24.
He also cited the example of how Pakistan fast-tracking their tearaway pacers straight into the Test team.
"When you have a lot of pace, there is a lot of pressure in white-ball cricket, you have to bowl absolutely accurately, if the ball goes even slightly here and there, you can prove expensive and then the captain does not gamble that much. This is how Pakistan used to think earlier, when they had young bowlers who bowled 90 miles an hour, they fast-tracked them straightaway into Test cricket and not much in white-ball cricket," Manjrekar added.