With Jasprit Bumrah out of the T20 World Cup, India is in a dire situation and needs a replacement for the 28-year-old.
Recently India has used a plethora of bowlers but none of them seems to fit the bill.
Umran Malik is the one pacer who can be a likely replacement for Bumrah as he has raw pace.
With Bumrah, a captain has the luxury to use him during any period of the match.
Here are three reasons why Malik can be a likely contender for Bumrah.
Firstly, India does not have an express pacer in their ranks as of now. Malik had three of the fastest five deliveries during IPL this year.
Some of these speeds were 157 kmph, 155.6 kmph and 154.8 kmph which Chahar, Arshdeep nor Harshal can achieve.
Malik is also often erratic and his fast pace comes at a very huge sacrifice to accuracy. Other bowlers like Siraj and Umesh can also do this thing easily but have a slower top speed.
Secondly, Malik can become a huge threat in the middle overs because of his pace and ability to unsettle new batters.
Malik had 19 wickets in this year’s IPL with an average of 19.78. He can thus be rotated with spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Thirdly, if selectors pick Umran ahead of Siraj it can come at its own risks because the latter has been in superb form recently.
However, Siraj has not been up to the mark in T20 cricket as he has been in Tests. Therefore, Umran can be considered a better pick as he’s a complete four-over bowler who is also improving in other formats.
The pacer from Kashmir will be a great pick for India for the T20 World Cup.
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