Umran Malik was at his fastest best in the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka which was played on January 3 in Mumbai. India won the close encounter by just 2 runs thanks to the bowling effort of debutant Shivam Mavi and Malik.
While Mavi hogged the limelight for his excellent maiden outing for India in T20Is, Umran Malik drew attention thanks to him keeping the speed gun working overtime. He picked 2/27 in his 4 overs.
He dismissed Charith Asalanka for his first wicket and later came to his team's rescue in the 17th over when captain Dasun Shanaka was looking to take the game away from India and got him out for 45 runs.
The delivery that got Shanaka out, caught by Yuzvendra Chahal at mid-off was bowled at 155 kph which became arguably the fastest delivery bowled by an Indian in international cricket.
IND v SL 2023: WATCH - Umran Malik dismisses Dasun Shanaka with 155 kmph rocket
Talking about the same, former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja advised the team management to treat him slightly differently from the rest of the bowlers given the rarity he brings to the table.
"He is special, he is different from others, and you need him differently. You need to look after him. His fields have to be different. He will take a while because not many bowlers of that pace bowl so you're not used to seeing where the ball goes. What brings the best out of him. But he showed that in the last over which he bowled. He got hit for a six, then he went further and picked up a wicket. So he will learn as he goes along but it's for the team and the management also to learn how to use him," Jadeja said on Cricbuzz.
"There haven't been many bowlers who bowl at this pace. He has got a fabulous action, great rhythm. You need to unleash him. If he is held tight and you make him into a defensive bowler then you are probably losing out on something very special. He might take a little longer to develop into a wicket-taking bowler but he has got something that no other bowler has in India. A lot of players have bounce these days. We see lot of fast bowlers who are pretty good with the seam and all but very rarely do you find a bowler in India with air pace. I just hope and pray that he is used differently," he added.
The former India ODI captain Jadeja also felt that Umran will give away runs thanks to the speed at which he bowls and the team management must look beyond his economy rate.
"You have got to look at this man and not assess him with numbers. If you look at his numbers, they may look ordinary everytime but the 4-5 games that I watched him - in New Zealand and the game today - the accuracy that he has for somebody with that pace is very rare. We've only seen the tip of the iceberg. As the ball gets older, in the longer version he will be more effective. This man will look special. At the moment, he is looking good but he will look even better with the older ball," the former India all-rounder added.
