Jammu & Kashmir’s Umran Malik Delivers Fastest Ball Of IPL 2022; What’s Next Target?

Mumbai: Umran Malik is making waves in IPL 2022 with his express pace.

He has been clocking 150 kmph and above regularly for Sunrisers Hyderabad. On Thursday, in the match against Delhi Capitals at Brabourne Stadium, he first clocked 154.8 kmph in the 12th over and surpassed his own feat with a 157 kmph thunderbolt.

The fourth ball of the final over was hit for a boundary by Delhi’s Rovman Powell, but not before it was recorded as the fastest ball of the ongoing 15th edition of IPL.

It may not be long before the 22-year-old youngster from Jammu & Kashmir clocks 160 kmph, that is, 100 miles per hour. But his first target will be to go past Australian pacer Shaun Tait’s IPL record of 157.7 kmph.

Umran went wicketless this evening, conceding 52 runs in 4 overs. But he has been a handful for many a batsman, having bagged 15 wickets so far in 10 games, including a 5/25 against Gujarat Titans.

Retired South African pace maestro Dale Steyn, Umran’s coach at SRH, is convinced that Umran will play international cricket soon.

“There’s no doubt he’ll play for India. He bowls at 150kmph consistently, and nobody else is doing that in the world right now except Lockie Ferguson. From an Indian point of view, he is the only guy who consistently bowls over 145-150 kmph every single ball, so he will play for India. But how India manages him is completely up to them,” Steyn said recently.