Former Indian bowler Zaheer Khan believes the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) might have handled the circumstances around Umran Malik better. The speedster has been out of favour with the Sunrisers in recent games, which has raised a few questions.
Umran Malik has only played seven games this season, taking five wickets and being on the costly side with an economy rate of 10.35. However, Zaheer believes that such speedsters require support and confidence in order to perform to their full potential.
Zaheer Khan, who is also an IPL Expert for Jio Cinema, revealed how horribly the SRH administration treated Umran Malik in a media encounter. He stated:
“I think Umran Malik hasn’t been handled well by the franchise the way he should have been utilized by SRH. When you’re talking about a young seamer, you’re also looking at creating that environment and support and confidence is required. Unfortunately, that wasn’t seen from SRH and that’s why he has had a season he had this year.”
Zaheer Khan has played along with Ishant Sharma and has praised his performance for the Delhi Capitals. He went on to say:
He (Ishant) is another example of experience being utilized. He is someone who was ready even though he was not around in the early days of IPL.”
Zaheer Khan on frequent injuries to fast bowlers
Zaheer Khan has been surprised by the number of long-term ailments suffered by fast bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna. He also discussed how batters have been injured and believes it may have something to do with how they approach their training and other aspects of the game.
Zaheer commented on this:
“I am equally puzzled on this (bowlers getting injured). Also there are some batters who have had some serious injuries. That is beyond my understanding and it has to do with a combination for sure. I believe something needs to be looked at carefully in terms of how they’re approaching the whole season or their training and rest-to-recovery ratios. It is very difficult to pin-point in one word what’s exactly going wrong.”
Injuries to Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul have significantly harmed India’s chances of winning the World Test Championship final next month.