Umran Malik’s father opens up on his son’s journey in cricket

Hyderabad pacer Umran Malik’s father Abdul Rashid recently opened up on his son’s journey in the game of cricket. Umran started his cricket journey by playing Tennis Ball cricket in his younger days. He shot to fame last year when he was named as a replacement for T. Natarajan, who was tested COVID-19 positive and got injured as well.

Meanwhile, his father, Abdul Rashid, revealed that the right-arm pacer was a natural fast bowler. Rashid added that his son always believed in himself and he hopes that one day his son will represent the nation and make the whole country proud.

“His bowling action and pace are all natural. He has not done any special training or additional work on that. It comes naturally. He used to practice with a Cosco tennis ball. And it is what it is,” Rashid said in an exclusive chat with News18 Cricketnext.

“He always used to believe in himself as an individual that he wanted to succeed in his life. He is playing IPL today and we hope that with God’s grace he would represent India soon and will make the whole nation proud,” he added.

“It’s all his hard work that has taken him to the IPL. Na din ko sota tha, na raat ko sota tha. Dhoop ho, chhav ho, isne mehnat kabhi nahi chhodi (He hardly slept in a day. Ne never stopped working hard regardless of the conditions).

“He was interested in cricket since his childhood, he always wanted to be a cricketer. We never stopped him to do so. He was also good at his studies and regularly went to school. After school hours, he used to go to play cricket. His mother has supported him throughout. Whatever he needed for cricket, we made sure he gets that. Whatever he is today, is only because of his passion,” he concluded.

In his last game for Hyderabad, Umran Malik became the first bowler to pick three wickets and not concede a single-run in an over in the Indian T20 League. Malik picked four wickets in that game and Hyderabad beat Punjab convincingly by 7 wickets.