Umran Malik has been the talk of the town because of his brilliance with the ball in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), he has taken 15 wickets in eight outings so far and is a strong contender for the purple cap.

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The SRH pacer has routinely clocked 150+ kmph in the tournament. In his team's recent match against the Gujarat Titans, he was named Player of the Match for his outstanding figures of 5/25 in 4 overs.

While many former cricketers are of the opinion that the speedster should be included in the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, former India pacer RP Singh opposed his fast-tracking.

According to Singh, Umran should be kept with the team and groomed. 

"Umran Malik is surely an exciting talent. He should be kept with the team because then you can groom him while keeping the strength of your bench. You never know who will you need when. But playing him right away? I am not in favor of that because he hasn't played much domestic and even in IPL, he has only just started to do well," RP Singh told Cricbuzz.

"His economy rate was very poor but in the last 2-3 matches he has pulled it back to around eight. He is on the stepping stones of improvement, if he stays with the team, bowls to world-class bowlers in the nets, he'll get that fine-tuning done. You can keep him in the team for the future but it's perhaps a bit too early to play him."

Malik was picked as one of the net bowlers for the T20 World Cup last year. In 2021/22, he was also included in India A's side for the unofficial Test matches against South Africa A. 

He has been phenomenal for SRH who stand at the 3rd position on the points table. The franchise will next take on the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday (May 01) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association in Pune.

(TIMES NOW INPUTS)