Umran Malik’s rise to stardom and fading away from the highest level were as rapid as his thunderbolts: where is he now?

Umran Malik burst into limelight out of virtual nothingness during a match in the 2021 IPL, where he consistently bowled at a pace unknown to Indian cricket in the documented era. Indian fast bowlers typically hit the headlines if they hit 150kph even once in their careers: Umran averaged that over one spell. 

Umran’s scorching spell left the Royal Challengers Bangalore (Bengaluru) captain in awe and helped the Sunrisers Hyderabad win that night, but it did not change the franchise’s fortunes for the season. What he did in his three-game season, however, was bowl the five fastest balls of that season, including a 156.9kph thunderbolt.

Umran instilled hope in the hearts of Indian cricket fans, who had never seen one of their own bowl at sustained pace of that extent. Pace, after all, is pace, yaar.

Early days

Jammu & Kashmir, the state Umran hails from, is not among the strongest of the myriad teams in Indian domestic cricket. His spotting was accidental, by a group of India Under-19 selectors who had come to visit the Vaishno Devi Mandir and saw him bowl on a cement pitch in a nearby net.

In April 2021, the Sunrisers had him as one of their net bowlers. At that point, his professional career stood at one T20 and one List A game.

Over the years, the Sunrisers built their attack around Indian seamers. They had backed Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma, and invested in – among others – Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, and Basil Thampi. They did not hesitate to draft him into the squad. Had COVID-19 not split that season into two, his debut would not have had to wait until October.

Fast-tracking

Umran’s scorching IPL season was enough to alert the selectors – to the extent that his first-class debut came for India A later that year, in South Africa. He returned 21-2-90-1 in the first unofficial “Test” against South Africa A, but they did not include him in the other two. His first domestic season in first-class cricket fetched six wickets in two games, at 33.17 apiece.

However, his full IPL season dissipated any doubt over his exceptional pace. Played in all 14 games, he did go for 9.03 an over – but his 22 wickets were the fourth-most of the edition and the second-most among fast bowlers.

Umran did make his T20 debut that summer, but did little for the selectors to pick him for that year’s T20 World Cup even after Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar were ruled out. However, he got a full run when India toured New Zealand later that year.

Fading out

From three T20Is on that tour, Umran had 11-0-106-7. From two ODIs, 15-0-97-3. The runs conceded stand out, as do the frequency of the wickets. His brief career has followed a pattern.

After eight T20Is, Umran’s career stands at 11 wickets at 22.09 and an economy of 10.48. On one hand, his economy is the worst among Indian bowlers who have taken 10 wickets. On the other, his strike rate is the best among Indian fast bowlers with 10 wickets since 2012.

Umran’s ODI strike rate (28.1 for 13 wickets across 10 games) ranks up there with India’s finest as well, but with a 10-wicket cut-off, only Varun Aaron has a worse economy than his 6.54.

Umran, thus, is the quintessential strike bowler, willing to concede runs for wickets. He was probably not the kind of bowler India wanted. certainly not in T20Is. He is yet to play in the shortest format since January 2023. In ODIs, he lasted longer, up to July that year.

What has he been doing meanwhile?

Being dropped from the international sides did not help Umran. Meanwhile, other fast bowlers stepped up, and the odd injury certainly did not help his cause.

In 2023, he played only eight times in the IPL, going for 10.85 an over. In 2024, he sent down a solitary over, for 15 – though, to be fair, it was one of the several slogfests that typified the season.

His numbers till date do not make impressive readings. His 16 first-class wickets have come at 44.62 apiece; in List A cricket, he has 15 wickets at 41.80 each while going at 6.62 an over; and his T20 economy stands at 9.10.

What is his current status?

Umran had been practising hard with his Ranji Trophy coach P Krishnakumar. The BCCI do have him in their radar: this year, he became part of the first batch that won the fast-bowling contracts.

Unfortunately, things have gone wrong for him for some time. He suffered from dengue, followed by a toe injury and a hamstring injury – a combination of which kept him out of the Duleep Trophy.

Once he recovered, he complained of “issues around his left hip” during bowling. A consultation and subsequent scans revealed a stress fracture in his left hip.

As a result, Umran has been ruled out of the first phase of the Ranji Trophy. The road to an India comeback looks a long one for him at the moment.

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