Ravi Shastri Feels Umran Malik Shouldn't Be Picked In India's T20 World Cup Squad. Here's What He Said
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri is not in favor of the popular opinion regarding Umran. Shastri feels it is too early to pick the 22-year-old speedster in the India squad for T20 World Cup 2022.
New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir's pace bowling sensation Umran Malik has been making headlines in recent times due to his remarkable bowling in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Umran earned a maiden call-up in Team India for the first time for the five-match T20 series against South Africa. Seeing his talent, many veteran cricketers and fans are of the opinion that Umran should get a chance to make his international debut in the Indian team as the 'Men in Blue' have to play only a handful of T20 series ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, former team India head coach Ravi Shastri is not in favor of the popular opinion regarding Umran. Shastri feels it is too early to pick the 22-year-old speedster in the India squad for T20 World Cup 2022.
"No, not T20 as yet. Groom him. Take him with your team. If anything, let him start playing white-ball cricket, that is 50-over cricket, maybe even red-ball cricket. Groom him there with the in the red ball team and then see how it goes," he said in an discussion on ESPNcricinfo.
"I think he should be around the Indian team all the while, even if he is not in the squad. I think they need to manage him...His time will come," Daniel Vettori, former New Zealand cricket team captain, added.
Team India head coach Rahul Dravid shared his opinion on Umran ahead of Ind vs SA T20 series.
"Yeah, it is exciting. He certainly bowled quick and with pace. Another thing which has been interesting for me watching the IPL from the outside is the number of Indian bowlers bowling fast. And obviously, being coach of all three formats of the game, I would love to see that translated into the longer formats of the game. But it is brilliant in terms of watching Umran in the nets, you can see that he has got that pace," said Dravid.
"Obviously, he is learning. He is a young boy and he is getting better, improving. The more he is able to play, the better he is going to get. From our, perspective, very happy to have someone like him in the mix. We have to see how much playing time we can give him, we need to be realistic, we have a large squad, it is not possible to give everyone playing XI time. I think I am certainly someone who likes to have that consistency."
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