Iske jaise toh bohot hain, domestic cricket bhari padi hai hamaari: Sohail Khan on Umran Malik

Due to Umran's top notch performances whenever he is handed the ball, many have vouched for him to break Akhtar’s record for the fastest delivery in international cricket. Akhtar had bowled a 161.3 kmph delivery against England at the 2003 World Cup.

Due to Umran's top notch performances whenever he is handed the ball, many have vouched for him to break Akhtar’s record for the fastest delivery in international cricket. Akhtar had bowled a 161.3 kmph delivery against England at the 2003 World Cup.

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Former Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan who has been making headlines for sharing his exchange between himself and Virat Kohli during the 2015 World Cup India-Pakistan group stage match, said that bowlers like Umran Malik are in abundance in the Pakistan domestic circuit.

“Only a bowling machine can break Shoaib Akhtar’s record (of the fastest ball). A human being can’t I feel. Umran Malik guy is a good bowler. I’ve seen 1-2 matches and he runs fast and has kept other things is check as well. But if you think of fast bowlers with speed in excess of over 150-155 kph, I can count 12-15 players right now who play tape-ball cricket. If you go visit the trails organized by Lahore Qalandars, you’ll find many players,” Sohail said on The Nadir Ali podcast on asked if Malik can break Shoaib Akhtar’s record.

“Iske (Umran Malik) jaise toh bohot hain. Domestic cricket bhari padi hai hamaari. (Our domestic setup is filled with bowlers like Umran Malik). When a bowler comes through in our domestic level, he has already become a top bowler. Like Shaheen, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, these are bowlers who know their stuff. I can give you plenty of names,” he added.

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Former Indian bowler Irfan Pathan had reacted to the comment saying that people like Sohail need attention and it’s better to ignore them.

Umran had burst onto the scene in IPL 2021 for Sunrisers Hyderabad and took the world by storm on the back of his lethal pace, comparisons to another legendary Asian fast bowler, Akhtar has been brought up pretty frequently.

Malik finished the IPL 2022 season with 22 scalps to his name, a feat that earned him a maiden call up to the Indian T20 squad against Ireland in June. Due to Umran’s top notch performances whenever he is handed the ball, many have vouched for him to break Akhtar’s record for the fastest delivery in international cricket. Akhtar had bowled a 161.3 kmph delivery against England at the 2003 World Cup.

Recently, in a conversation with New 24, Umran said that he was not thinking about it with his only aim being to do well for India. “Right now, I’m only thinking about performing well for the country. If I do well, and if I’m lucky, I’ll break that. If not, it’s not a problem. But I don’t think about it too much,” the young pacer said.

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