T20 WC 2021: Jammu & Kashmir pacer Umran Malik selected as team India’s net bowler

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked young pacer Umran Malik to join the Team India bubble for the T20 World Cup as a net bowler.

Several sources in the Board have confirmed to Sportstar that the youngster from Jammu, who made heads turn in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season with the fastest delivery, will enter the Indian team bubble by Sunday.

It is learnt that a few uncapped bowlers from the other IPL franchises have also been asked to stay back in the United Arab Emirates and join the Indian team bubble as net bowlers for the tournament – which begins next week.

Coming in as a short-term replacement for T. Natarajan, Malik featured in three games for Sunrisers Hyderabad and impressed with his speed. While Malik had to warm the bench in the first few games of the second leg, he was handed the cap against Kolkata Knight Riders last week and the youngster clocked 146-plus speed in the very first over, and he entered 150s twice on the speed gun. A couple of days later, he kept the momentum in the fixture against RCB, where he clocked 153 kph – the fastest delivery of the season.

While he has not featured in a first-class game yet, Umran made it to the limited overs team of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year and featured in two fixtures – a T20 and a 50-over game.