Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team management has come under the scanner for how it handled tearaway fast bowler Umran Malik in the ongoing IPL season.
Malik featured in only seven matches in IPL 2023 and his last appearance came on April 29 against Delhi Capitals.
Amid the outrage, SRH skipper Aiden Markram on Thursday (May 18) gave a bizarre statement, saying that he doesn’t know why Umran has been sidelined even though the speedster brings a lot of X factor to the side.
“Not too sure to be honest. Certainly he's a player with the X factor, bowls at 150kph, but I don't really know what's about behind the scenes but he has a lot of X factor,” Markram said at the toss for SRH’s clash with RCB.
Umran Malik, who took the IPL by storm last year because of his sheer pace, has picked up five wickets at an economy rate of 10.35 in IPL 2023.
Earlier, former India pacer Zaheer Khan slammed the Hyderabad-based franchise for managing Umran well.
"Umran Malik has not been handled well I felt by the franchise, (in) the way he should have been handled by the franchise, (in) the way his services should have been utilised by SRH. That's something which was evident," Zaheer told NDTV.
"When you are talking about a young seamer, you are also looking at creating that environment and support. And, that guidance is required. Unfortunately that was not seen by SRH. That's why, he's had a season like this," he added.
Besides Zaheer, former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has hit out at Sunrisers Hyderabad’s handling of Umran Malik.
“Last year, Umran Malik performed really well, and you all took credit for that. But this year, he needed your support. But did he get that? Was he utilised properly? You haven't used him properly, and the same can be said for many players in the franchise,” said Yusuf while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
Thanks to his IPL 2022 exploits, Umran got chances in the Indian cricket team as well. He has so far played eight ODIs and as many T20Is, claiming 13 and 11 wickets respectively.
“He is a young bowler, he is India's future. And he has played well for India whenever he turned up in international colours,” Yusuf added.
