IPL 2022: 'Will play for India soon': Tearaway pacer Umran Malik's thunderbolts a hit with the fans again

Umran Malik a lot as we talk about Jasprit Bumrah. He is a serious, serious talent," said former India opener Gautam Gambhir to ESPNCricinfo last year when the Jammu and Kashmir pacer clocked a 152.95kph delivery in his debut IPL season. Along with Gambhir, many other legends of the game and pundits were also mighty impressed with what Umran gave a glimpse of last year in the 3 matches he played in T20 cricket's biggest league. Watching Umran bowl five consecutive deliveries at more than 150 clicks last season in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was something fans in India still talk about. After all, it's not a very common sight. And when that happened, it gave the entire nation something unique and special to cheer about. Cut to April 2022, Umran once again is the buzz of the town. Just a couple of games in IPL 2022 so far and the 22-year-old has taken the cricketing world by storm again. The searing pace with which Umran has been bowling is increasingly becoming too hot to handle for the batters.

Image credit: SunRisers Hyderabad's Twitter handleThe 152.4 kph bullet that Umran bowled to Lucknow Super Giants' Deepak Hooda on Monday's game is so far the quickest this season and the rhythm with which Umran is bowling, it looks like he is just warming up for a lot more in the days to come. With the mighty South African Dale Steyn, who is the bowling coach for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, in his corner, Umran also has a great mentor. The National selectors of course must already have their eyes on this very talented 22 year old from Jammu and Kashmir. Talks of Umran wearing the India jersey in the near future have been doing the rounds for a while now.

Hailing from Srinagar, Umran incredibly only started playing