Umran Malik rattled Bracewell’s stumps and the bails flew over keeper Ishan Kishan and slip-fielder Suryakumar Yadav’s heads to land way over the 30-yard circle during the India vs New Zealand 3rd T20I in Ahmedabad.
Umran Malik is box office. India’s fast bowling unit has gone through a sea change in the last decade and a half. They now have more bench strength in the pace fowling department than spinners. Indian fast bowlers terrorizing opponents is nothing new now. Despite all this, there is a different kind of excitement whenever Umran Malik has the ball in his hand. One doesn’t have to think hard to find the reason for that. It’s his face. No other Indian bowler has breached the 150 km/h mark so consistently at the international level as Umran does.
He did it again in the series-deciding third T20I against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Umran Malik, who holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery by an Indian pacer, cleaned up New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell in the third ball of the fifth over of the visitor’s chase.
The right-arm pacer from Jammu started his spell with a 148.6 km/h wide yorker which Bracewell failed to get a bat to. A couple of balls later, the left-hander tried to charge down the track and heave Umran over the top but missed the 150 km/h delivery completely. The ball rattled his stumps and the bails flew over keeper Ishan Kishan and slip-fielder Suryakumar Yadav’s heads to land way over the 30-yard circle.
