India’s newest pace sensation Umran Malik was finally given a chance to showcase his amazing talent as he successfully defended 17 runs in the final over to guide Team India to a 4-run win over Ireland in the 2nd T20I on Tuesday (June 28) in Dublin.
With the win, India secured a T20I series with a 2-0 margin against Ireland. Well, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had handed Umran his debut India cap ahead of the first T20I match, but the speedster bowled one over in the rain-curtailed match and went for 14 runs.
Despite popular notions, Hardik Pandya and co. retained Malik for the second T20I and the stand-in captain showed faith in Umran to defend the 17 runs off the last 6 balls, and the young gun didn’t disappoint him despite a scary start to the final over.
He conceded two fours in his first three deliveries before giving away only three runs off the final three deliveries against Ireland.
After the match, Umran thanked Pandya for showing faith in him.
Umran Malik said in a video uploaded on BCCI’s official Twitter handle: “It was a dream for me to play for India and it has come true. I was almost in tears when Bhuvi bhai handed me the cap. It felt good after I successfully defended 17 runs in the final and we won the series.”
Expressing gratitude to Hardik Pandya for showing faith in him, the 22-year-old revealed how the captain kept on guiding him during the crunch phase of the game on Tuesday.
Malik signed off by saying, “I bowled wide to start with. Then Hardik bhai told me to bowl a normal length and it became a no-ball. When they needed eight runs off three balls, Hardik bhai told me that if I could bowl two dots, we would win the match. Thankful to Hardik bhai for showing faith in me and thanks to god that I didn’t let him down.”
Watch the video here:
Raw emotions on debut to keeping calm in the thrilling last-over win against Ireland! ???? ???? #TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 29, 2022
Umran Malik says it all after the second #IREvIND T20I in Dublin. ???? ???? - By @RajalArora pic.twitter.com/Rsja5Lgb2M
