Umran Malik

Umran Malik burst onto the scene in 2021 when he clocked 150kph for Sunrisers Hyderabad on his IPL debut. A product of tennis-ball cricket, Malik did not even know there existed shoes with spikes for fast bowlers until he went for his first Under-19 trial. He had played just one List A match and one T20 when he joined SRH as a short-term Covid replacement for T Natarajan. He got his chance only after SRH were out of the race for the playoffs. He made an immediate impact and, despite playing just three games that season, was retained by SRH ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.

Malik showed his full potential during IPL 2022 when he picked up 22 wickets from 14 games. It included 5 for 25 against Gujarat Titans in a losing cause. Four of his victims were bowled and the other was beaten for pace by a bouncer. He clocked 156.9kph during the tournament.

Later that year, he made his T20I and ODI debuts but it turned out raw pace alone was not enough to keep him going at that level.
Hemant Brar