"Instead of him, they could have played...." Punjab Kings' coach makes a straightforward remark on Umran Malik

The exciting speedster from Jammu, Umran Malik, has had a below-par season while featuring for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023. In the six innings, the pacer has scalped only 5 wickets at a substandard bowling average of 30.80 and an economy rate of 9.62 so far.

Umran has conceded more than 10.50 runs per over in three different games, which has also been one of the reasons for SRH’s below-par run this season. The Orange Army has won two of their seven matches and is currently placed in ninth position in the points table.

While Umran has underperformed, his usage by the newly-appointed SRH captain Aiden Markram has also largely been underwhelming. For instance, Malik was given only two overs against Delhi Capitals, even after he conceded only 14 runs in those two overs.

Similarly, the 23-year-old was taken out of the attack in the 11th over despite conceding only 8 runs and then handed the 18th over when the game was almost dusted against Chennai Super Kings. Umran was made to bowl in the powerplay against Kolkata Knight Riders with no fine leg, which was again a poor tactic from Markram, given the obvious weaknesses of the KKR batters against the shorter-length deliveries.

Punjab Kings’ coach makes a stern remark on the usage of Umran Malik

The current Punjab Kings’ batting coach, Wasim Jaffer, has mentioned a straightforward plan for Sunrisers Hyderabad. According to Jaffer, the SRH think-tank should accommodate a batter if they don’t trust Umran Malik.

“SRH are playing Umran Malik, but he bowled only two overs in the match against Delhi. Instead of him, they could have played a batter. If you don’t trust him as a bowler, it’s better to bring in a batsman to the team,” exclaimed the 45-year-old in a chat with ESPNCricinfo.

The PBKS batting coach added, “Delhi were 62/5 at one point, but Hyderabad allowed them to reach 144. If they had bowled better, things could have been easier for them. Letting Delhi make 144 was a mistake by SRH.”

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Umran Malik is an exhilarating talent and should be used precisely to extract the most out of him. He can do great things with the ball, as was visible several times in the last season.