While Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had a good day against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their last IPL 2023 match in Delhi on April 29, conjuring up a 9-run win, their pacer Umran Malik had a off day and was slammed by Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen on commentary.
Malik, who was one of the finds of the IPL 2022, where his raw pace and ability to pick wickets impressed everyone and led to him making his debut for India, has struggled to find the same rhythm in IPL 2023.
In seven games this year, he has picked up only five wickets at an economy rate of 10.35.
On Saturday, legends of the game, Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen, were left utterly disappointed at his poor show against Delhi Capitals as they lashed out at him.
Aiden Markram, skipper of SRH, introduced Umran Malik after the powerplay was over but Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt were going great guns. This resulted in Salt beginning and ending the over with a boundary while Marsh hit him for consecutive sixes as Umran leaked 22 runs in that over.
What left Shastri and Pietersen miffed was Umran's plan and lack of clarity.
"He just played into the hands of the opposition. He needs someone like a Bhuvneshwar Kumar next to him telling him what exactly needs to be done. You can still go for runs but you need to alter the length. You come out there bowl four deliveries, all same length, wrong line and he has gone for 17 runs already. He can even try cross seam. In a situation like this when you don't have the confidence and you don't know where it is going, go cross seam and full and into the stumps," Shastri said on Star Sports.
On the other hand, Pietersen criticized Umran for not learning from Mitchell Marsh, who picked 4 wickets for DC and following his methods.
Pietersen said: "I am not a bowler but sitting in the dressing room, our bowlers - the Broads and the Andersons - have all watched what the opposition did. They were always thinking and talking about what the opposition was doing. That is the learning gear. He should have understood what Mitch Marsh did with great success. What Umran Malik is doing here is not good. Take the pace off!" he said. "It was completely wrong. Every single delivery was on speed again. Where were all of Mitch Marsh's wickets? All were slower balls and leg cutters. It is really not that difficult to understand someone else from the opposition did which was successful."
Malik only bowled that one over and was not recalled as SRH posted a 9-run win over DC.
