Tearaways like Umran Malik create a special buzz

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Umran Malik has lit up this edition of the Indian Premier League in no small measure and like fellow tearaway fast bowlers have done in the past, he has left batsmen wondering how they’ll cope with the red-hot pace in international cricket

The emergence of an express fast bowler causes a special kind of buzz which extends beyond the dressing rooms of both teams, as well as the concrete expanse of the stadium premises. 

It’s as if every cricket follower wants to know more about the rising star, analysing what he did, predicting what he could do and whether his pace could be enduring.

That is indeed the case with Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Umran Malik, 22. He has captured the imagination of cricket lovers probably like no young player in this edition of the Indian Premier League and is set for higher honours if he continues tormenting batsmen.

It’s rare for Indian cricketers to create a sensation with their pace. Before Umran, Jasprit Bumrah caught everyone’s fancy with his pace and prior to that, in 2003, Munaf Patel’s raw pace impressed Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. If we turn the Indian clock back further, we’ll think about how Pandurang Salgaonkar had batsmen hopping around and taking buckets of domestic wickets without playing for India in the early 1970s. A few seasons before him, there was Mumbai’s Saeed Hatteea, who pundits felt should have been on the plane to the West Indies with Ajit Wadekar’s team in 1971.

Back to Umran. The past masters have been nothing short of effusive in their thoughts on Umran, without going over the top. Brian Lara on Star Sports said: “In the IPL, a lot of batsmen get accustomed to playing sheer pace, so I hope that he [Umran] adds a little bit more to his armoury later on. He’s a quick learner in the nets, he’s willing to learn and it’s just awesome to see India has a pacer of that calibre, it’s just tremendous.”

In Sunday mid-day, Gavaskar wrote: “While many of the quicks have caught the eye it must be remembered that this is a format where they have to bowl only four overs and that too seldom at a stretch. So before talking about them being red ball prospects, where they may have to bowl at least 15 to 20 overs a day, we need to see what their fitness levels for the long format are. That said, just to see so many of them is such a good thing for Indian cricket for it’s better to have problems of plenty, rather than headaches of scarcity.”

Gavaskar’s views appeared on the morning of the day Umran twice clocked 154 kmph against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Pune, which made him more of a hit.

There will be batsmen who would not want to face Umran’s pace in domestic cricket and prefer being in the same team as him, just as the great Greg Chappell did when he locked horns with Jeff Thomson while playing for Queensland against Thommo’s first state side, New South Wales in the 1973-74 season.

In his book on Thomson, the late Australian off-spinner Ashley Mallett wrote about how Chappell got Thomson to play for Queensland: “Greg Chappell, hurt that Queensland were again denied the Sheffield Shield [in 1973-74], was keen to talk to Thommo. Chappell says: ‘There was a big statement from Thommo in the newspaper that the match against Queensland would be his last for NSW. Then he bowled faster than anyone I’d seen. His performance prevented Queensland winning the Shield. I think we only needed first innings points. Over a couple of beers in the dressing room, I asked Thommo if he was interested in moving to Queensland. ‘Are you serious,’ he said. ‘I’ll go anywhere.’ I rushed upstairs to the executive suite above the Sydney Cricket Ground dressing rooms and spoke to Queensland Cricket Association official Norm McMahon, who had connections with Toombul Cricket Club. I told Norm that I had spoken with Thommo and we’ve got to get him to Brisbane. I don’t ever want to face him again.’ ” Thomson duly signed up for Queensland and played for them till 1985-86.

Pace sets the pace for talk. Harold Larwood, the English pace terror bowler of the 1932-33 Bodyline series, became a regular in the Nottinghamshire side when, at the age of 20, he rattled Yorkshire legend Herbert Sutcliffe in a county game at Sheffield. The scorecard doesn’t show Larwood as the one who sent Sutcliffe back in either innings, but Larwood recalled in The Larwood Story: “Herbert Sutcliffe faced up to me. Or rather, I faced up to him. He looked surprised at the speed of my first ball as it went past him. The second came off his bat and flew into the safe hands of my skipper, Arthur Carr, at slip. It was a big thrill. Yorkshire’s great opening batsman had returned from triumph in Australia where in seven Test innings [excluding 22 and 0 in the last Test] he had made 59 and 115 (his first Test) and 176, 127, 33, 59 and 143.”

Frank Tyson, another feared English fast bowler who, like Larwood, was known for his performance in an Ashes series on Australian soil (1954-55), first impressed then England captain Len Hutton well before that victorious Ashes series. Hutton’s Yorkshire played some pre-season games in the early 1950s. Tyson, still at college, happened to be in the Redcar XI which clashed in a one-day game against Yorkshire. Tyson said in A Typhoon Called Tyson that he bowled six balls to Hutton off his 15-yard run-up and the distinguished opener couldn’t score a run. Hutton then turned to the wicketkeeper and asked, “Who the hell’s this?” Tyson hadn’t played first-class cricket for Northamptonshire then, but Hutton was impressed by Tyson’s pace and told the whirlwind fast bowler years later that he had recommended him to Lancashire county.

The word on pace spreads like fire. It’s a hot commodity and young Umran can only capitalise on the buzz he has created.

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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