‘He used to play a lot with tennis ball’ - Parvez Rasool opens up about Umran Malik’s blistering pace

Although Sunrisers Hyderabad extended their lean patch against Kolkata Knight Riders, Umran Malik impressed one and all with his blistering pace. The young pacer from Jammu & Kashmir was handed his Indian Premier League (Parvez Rasool opens up about Umran Malik’s blistering pace ) debut and he didn’t grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Umran set the speed gun on fire and troubled KKR batters constantly. He even became the first Indian to touch the 150 kmph mark this season.

Umran Malik’s spectacular sent social media into a frenzy as the 21-year-old became an overnight sensation. Although the speedster couldn’t take any wicket, he conceded just 27 runs in his quota of four overs. As a result, KKR required 19.4 over to reach a paltry target of 116 runs. One of the many to heap praises on Umran’s heroics against KKR was Jammu & Kashmir all-rounder Parvez Rasool.

Rasool, the only cricketer for the region to have played international cricket, said he was stunned seeing his teammate’s massive improvement. Although the all-rounder had faced Umran before, he said the pacer’s spell against KKR was at a different level. The 32-year-old also said the youngster played a lot of tennis cricket in Kashmir.

Umran Malik’s spell against KKR was at a different level

“He is a very talented boy. When I played him in the nets, he was quick. Woh bahot teekha thaa (he was pretty fast) but this was at a different level,” Rasool, the Jammu and Kashmir captain, who has played white-ball cricket for India, was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

“He was literally hurrying the batters with sheer pace. I was very proud to see him hold his own at such a big stage. I don’t think in his initial years, he had formal coaching before joining the coaching camp of District Sports Council. He used to play a lot of tennis ball matches on hire for Rs 500 or 1000,” he added.

Rasool further revealed that Abdul Samad, another Kashmir player who plays for SRH, introduced him to the talented pacer. “He is very close to Samad. It was Samad who got him to the state team nets. I think when he was at the U-19 level, he had a bit of consistency issues and that’s why I don’t think he played a lot of games at the Cooch Behar or Vijay Merchant Trophy,” Rasool recalled.