Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) pace-bowling coach Dale Steyn on Friday (April 15) was left elated by Umran Malik’s fast bowling exhibition against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an IPL 2022 match.
Steyn jumped off his seat alongside spin-bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan in the dug-out after Umran cleaned up the KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer with a stunning yorker clocking 148.8 kph.
After the game, Steyn opened up about their celebration. He revealed that it was Muralitharan who said that a yorker would be the perfect delivery at this point as Shreyas was backing away.
However, Steyn and SRH head coach Tom Moody didn’t agree as they felt Iyer might hit Umran over his head if he attempts a yorker.
As it turned out, Umran Malik fired in a yorker on middle and off, which the KKR captain failed to dig out, leading to a heartwarming celebration between Steyn and Muralitharan in the SRH dugout.
"I'm not going to lie to you. Sometimes, the players' genius comes out. Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) actually said that he thinks the perfect ball to bowl right now is a yorker. Tom (Moody) and I turned around and said, 'no, if he bowls a yorker now, he is going to be hit for a four over his head'. He runs in, bowls a yorker, and knocks the stumps out of the ground! So, honestly, what do I know?" Steyn said after the match.
The former South Africa pacer further said he jumped onto Muralitharan for that 'amazing call'.
"The genius is in the players, guys. They have to do what they have to do, and when they have to do it I just jumped into Murali! I was like, "you are a spin bowling coach and now you are making these amazing calls," Steyn added.
During the spell, Umran Malik consistently clocked the speed of 145+ kph and returned with impressive figures of 2 for 27 in his four overs.
Apart from him, T Natarajan (3-37) claimed three wickets as the Sunrisers restricted the Knight Riders to 175/8 in 20 overs.
In reply, SRH rode on Rahul Tripathi’s swashbuckling 71 off 37 balls (4 fours and 6 sixes) and Aiden Markram’s unbeaten 68 off 36 balls (6 fours and 4 sixes) to overhaul the target with seven wickets in hand and 13 deliveries to spare.
(With Hindustan Times inputs)
