Umran Malik needs no introduction as he already made a mark for himself with his deadly pace. He has got an extraordinary finesse of clocking 150kph consistently. Umran has played 16 matches for India (8 each in ODIs and T20Is) where he scalped 24 wickets. Umran has been rated highly by current and former cricketers. The Jammu Kashmir-based bowler represents Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL where he is mentored by the former South Africa legend Dale Steyn. But then Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan feels that bowlers like him are very common in Pakistan's domestic cricket circuit.
"I feel this Umran Malik guy is a good bowler. I've seen 1-2 matches. 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 organised by Lahore Qalandars, you'll find many players," Sohail said on The Nadir Ali podcast.
"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 becomes a bonafide bowler. Like Shaheen, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf... these are bowlers who know their stuff. I can give you plenty of names."
Umran has already bowled the fastest delivery by an Indian as he clocked 156kph against Sri Lanka and has been considered a threat to Shoaib Akhtar's record for the quickest delivery of all time.
"There is only one thing that can break Shoaib Akhtar's record, and that is called a bowling machine because no human can ever do it. The reason is that the amount of hard work that Shoaib had put in, no one has. He used to complete 32 rounds in one day; I used to do 10 in a week. He would run on mountains with weight tied his legs and sprint," said the Pakistan pacer.