"Fully focused on preparation for Duleep Trophy": Umran Malik

Umran Malik. Pic/AFP

Recovering from dengue, Team India pacer Umran Malik said that he is now feeling better and is now fully focused on preparations ahead of the Duleep Trophy starting on September 5.

Umran Malik has recovered from the disease and has joined the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for the preparations for the domestic season.

Speaking to ANI, Umran said, "I am feeling better and now I am fully focused on the preparation of the Duleep trophy at NCA. I hope, I will be doing good in this season for my team."

Debuting for India in 2022, Umran Malik has played 10 ODIs in which he claimed 13 wickets. In the shortest format, the pacer has registered 11 wickets. His best bowling figures across both formats is 3/48.

Having made his first-class cricket debut in 2021, Umran has taken 16 wickets in 12 games at an average of 44.62, with the best figures of 3/25.

Umran Malik gained the limelight during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. In that edition, he snapped 22 wickets in 14 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with an average of 20.18. With a five-wicket haul, Malik was also the team's leading wicket-taker and overall fourth-highest wicket-taker in the 2022 edition.

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The Duleep Trophy, which marks the beginning of red-ball cricket in the domestic season, will feature top Indian stars from the international circuit and emerging talents competing at the highest level.

The tournament is set to begin on September 5, 2024, in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

The four squads for the first round of the tournament:

Team A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.

Team B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy', Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (WK).

Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (WK), Sandeep Warrier.

Team D: Shreyas lyer (C), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (WK), Saurabh Kumar.

(With ANI Inputs)