Wednesday's face-off between upstart Umran Malik and Kiwi tearaway Lockie Ferguson was a compelling battle of pace within the bigger battle between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans. It was as much about the teams upstaging each other as the two quicks outpacing each other, though Gujarat’s Alzarri Joseph provided an unexpected twist by also throwing his hat in the ring.
Ferguson had first go and unleashed a 149 kph thunderbolt which was a strong contender for the fastest delivery of the match award until his teammate Joseph topped 150. Malik eclipsed that by a good 2-plus kph. What was even more special about the 152-plus kph yorker was that it made a mess of the well-set Wriddhiman Saha's stumps. As the opener made room to drive the ball through off-side, he was beaten for pace and saw the woodwork rearranged. Four of Malik’s five victims on Wednesday night were all bowled. This is a growing sign of Malik's accuracy, something South African great Dale Steyn, the bowling coach of SRH, would be immensely proud of.
Seldom does such a devastating spell leave a side on the wrong end of the result, but that's exactly what happened to SRH. Notwithstanding Malik’s best IPL figures (4-0-25-5), Gujarat stole the win from under SRH's nose with a last-ball six by former SRH star Rashid Khan off Marco Jansen. But that did little to take the gloss off Malik's superlative effort. He had the crowd on their feet and commentators hyperventilating throughout his spell, and much after.
Not since Javagal Srinath burst on to the scene with his searing pace and bounce, then an uncommon sight for an Indian cricket fan, has a quick generated as much awe and admiration as Malik. Where Srinath - a south Indian vegetarian with a degree in engineering - was tall and wiry, Malik is a strapping lad with a shorter build. While Srinath came from culturally rich Mysuru, Malik belongs to Kashmir, its beauty unmatched but saddled with a troubled past that has spilled over to the present.
Yes, there is Jasprit Bumrah, who is easily one of the best all-format pacers in the world today. Mohammed Shami’s considerable pace and unparalleled skills make him one of most dangerous practitioners of fast bowling. There was, of course, Zaheer Khan who too fired the nation's imagination when he arrived on the big stage, but there's something special about Malik. His pace is consistently discomforting and bounce quite disconcerting. That he comes from Kashmir lends a touch of intrigue to the whole story, and that he is the son of a fruit seller from Srinagar (now settled in Jammu) adds allure to his humble image.
When Sunrisers Hyderabad unleashed him last year as a replacement for the injured T Natarajan, he did attract a lot of attention with his raw pace but there was little else to his bowling. The first temptation of a coach, especially in the sub-continent with exceptions in some cases in Pakistan, would be to cut down on pace to bring in more control. That's the first step towards demoting someone from being a fast bowler to a medium fast bowler. Fortunately, the SRH team management has let Malik bowl fast even though he came under the cosh in the initial few matches.
That he is a quick learner was evident from the fact that he knew what delivery to bowl when and to whom. He bruised Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya by hitting him on his right shoulder with a quick lifter but it had hurt the batsman's ego even more. Pandya decided to take on the young quick and perished while being a touch too late on a second bouncer in the next over.
Malik, declared the Player of the Match on Wednesday, made an interesting statement at the presentation ceremony. "...The idea was to stay on the stumps and mix the pace," he said about his bowling strategy. The 22-year-old's "slowest" delivery was somewhere around 144 clicks and the fastest 153. Malik now hopes to clock 155 kph! To borrow from West Indian pace great Michael Holding's take on fellow Caribbean legend Andy Roberts, Malik has two types of deliveries - a fast one and an even faster one.
In that sense, Malik possesses the Caribbean attitude - he wants to bowl as fast as he can. This is a rare breed and needs to be handled with care. With all the talk about giving him an India break, it's easy to get swayed away by all the hype and lose sight of the bigger picture. While Malik needs to remain immune to all the big talk around him, it's equally crucial that people around him help him stay focussed on the job. His time in India colours will come, though whether it will be as early as in June remains to be seen.
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