It was business as usual for coach Randhir Singh Manhas during the winter days in 2017 when a 17-year-old boy walked up to him during a net session at the Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu’s Nawabad area.
,sir will you let me bowl, (Can you allow me to bowl),” Manhas recalled the short and fat boy’s request while senior state team batsman Jatin Wadhawan was knocking at the nets.
“What is your name?”
“Umran Malik,” replied the boy, who got into the net session without bowling spikes.
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Manhas obliged, but to date, he has failed to find out whether it was his gut feeling or just wanted to indulge with a young boy, who made him agree to the request. Although he had a short bowler in the nets.
Whatever it was, Manhas’s role in giving an untimely genius the wings to fly is beyond doubt.
Umran was sowing the seeds of fast delivery on the best batsmen under intense pressure on a stage like IPL, the same day at the MA Stadium.
It was the birth of Umran Malik, the fastest bowler in the history of Indian cricket, who turned heads in this edition of the T20 league with 15 wickets in just eight matches.
“That day, he was too quick for a 17-year-old because Jatin, who was a first-class player, was done in haste by him.
“In my mind, I knew the kid was special and my views were supported by our senior team pacer Ram Dayal, who then reached the field and saw him bowl. Ram told me that this boy has a bright future,” said Jammu District Cricket Council coach Manhas.
Umran is not a product of the system but in spite of the system, and its rise can be attributed to him.
He received no structured coaching until the age of 17, never played with a leather ball, and played only in ‘mohalla’ tennis ball tournaments, from which any teenager could earn anything between Rs 500 to Rs 3000 Was. On a reputation per match basis.
His father, who hails from a middle-class family in Gurjar Nagar, Jammu, who runs his own fruit shop in the local market, initially wanted him to focus on studies, but later, along with his wife, turned him into a professional Encouraged to take up cricket.
After impressing the coach, Umran was asked to enroll in the academy, but Manhas recalled that in the early days of 2017-18, he was never a regular.
“He will come one day and then be absent for the next few days. We had to tell him that he needs to be disciplined about training as he can’t let the opportunities go down.
“I told him, ‘Listen Umran, the day you play at the national level, you won’t have to look back. So be serious’. I sent him for a -19 trial, where he borrowed the bowling spikes and bowled to him. Bihar was selected for the trophy, but got only one match, and that too against Odisha was interrupted by rain.
“But those watching him told me the keeper was standing 35 yards behind the stumps, something that doesn’t happen a lot at the under-19 level,” said the coach, who is a storehouse of anecdotes.
One of his favorite stories is the one where the Assam Ranji team, coached by former keeper Ajay Ratra, came to Jammu for an away game.
“Umran was in the stadium that day and the Assam team needed net bowlers for practice. Ajay asked Umran if he would like to bowl in the nets. Umran immediately agreed but after 15 minutes the Assam coach asked Umran to stop. reason? His men had a match to play and they didn’t want him to get hurt,” Manhas laughed.
In fact, Ratra was surprised that Umran was not playing Ranji Trophy at that time.
Sandy banks and strongly built lower body of Tawi river
One of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, the great Andy Roberts has laid down a basic rule regarding the physique of a fast bowler in various interviews.
Roberts once said, “You bowl fast not just because you have a strong upper body, but because you have strong legs which help create rhythm.”
In Umran’s case, one would be surprised to know that before entering Sunrisers Hyderabad, he had never been a part of any systematic gym session, but still had a rock like lower body.
“His house is near the Tawi river and the area along the river is mainly sandy. Umran grew up running in sandy fields and played cricket all his formative years. This has created a very strong lower body. You won’t find many people who had such great body composition and inherent strength at the age of 17 without any gym training,” Manhas said.
As far as his yorkers are concerned, the credit goes to tennis ball cricket, where a fast bowler at the base of the stump is often the go-to delivery for a fast bowler.
Jasprit Bumrah mastered it with tennis ball cricket, and so did Umran.
Samad: Only a needy friend is a true friend
Jammu and Kashmir’s teams have been dominated by cricketers from the Valley for years, but in Umran’s case, it was not the cricket establishment but a friend and a fellow competitor that led him to stardom.
It was his friend Abdul Samad, who is also a part of SRH.
“It was Samad, who would record his bowling videos in June 2020 and mail them to VVS Laxman sir and Tom Moody, when only a few were training after the first lockdown. Sunrisers loved his videos and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Umran went to UAE as a net bowler in 2020 and was performing the same duties in 2021, before T Natarajan’s injury opened the doors for him, and his consistent 150 clicks bowling saw the selectors make him the final T20 World Cup bowler. Forced to make net bowler for him. cup.
Now, things are going very fast for Umran, but Manhas is confident that he will adapt to the changes in life and the focus will be on cricket and India.
“He is learning a lot from the likes of Dale Steyn and I believe when he plays at the highest level, he will keep improving.”
Life is a beautiful dream, so Umran Malik is living it.
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