"Give Him A Chance In Test": Ex-India Star's 'Mark Wood' Compliment For Umran Malik

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has urged the selectors to give a chance to tearaway pacer Umran Malik in Test cricket. Umran, who impressed everyone with his pace in the Indian Premier League, has already represented India in white-ball cricket, but is yet to wear the whites for the team. He has not been selected for the two-match Test series against West Indies. Umran had a below-par season in the IPL this year but Manjrekar feels that Umran can "be an X-factor" in the longest format of the game due to his pace.

Manjrekar drew comparison between Umran and England pacer Mark Wood, who made an instant impact in the third Ashes Test against Australia last week.

"I believe if you have to pick Umran, give him a chance in Test cricket because we saw when Mark Wood played the last Ashes Test, a guy who can bowl 90 miles per hour, his specialty is that the tail-enders don't stay against him for long. So if you have to see Umran Malik, instead of white-ball cricket, if you have a Test series that is not that high-profile, give him a chance there, three-four over spells. So he will be an X-factor in our bowling," Manjrekar told News 24.

To further back his claim, Manjrekar also gave the example of how Pakistan fast-tracked pacers, who bowled at 90 miles an hour, straight into the Test.

"When you have a lot of pace, there is a lot of pressure in white-ball cricket, you have to bowl absolutely accurately, if the ball goes even slightly here and there, you can prove expensive and then the captain does not gamble that much. This is how Pakistan used to think earlier, when they had young bowlers who bowled 90 miles an hour, they fast-tracked them straightaway into Test cricket and not much in white-ball cricket," he added.