Cricket News

Young Indian pacer says that Dale Steyn predicted his debut for the national team

India’s new pace sensation, Umran Malik enjoyed a great season in the recently concluded Indian T20 Leauge for his Hyderabad franchise. His fiery spells were the talk of the town as with every match, he was bowling with more pace to the opponents.

Umran picked up 22 wickets in 14 matches with an economy of 9.03. He constantly bowled at 150+ kmph. Against Delhi, he bowled a ball at 157 kmph which was eventually the second fastest ball of this year’s tournament. He worked under the eyes of the South African legend Dale Steyn as he was the bowling coach of the franchise. His stellar performance ensured his place in the upcoming South Africa series.

BCCI posted a video on their official Twitter account where he said that Dale Steyn had already predicted his chance of representing India before the tournament kicked off. Here is the video from Twitter:

💬 💬 "A dream come true moment to get India call up."

Umran Malik speaks about the excitement on being a part of the #TeamIndia squad, Day 1 at the practice session, his idols and goals ahead. 👍 👍 – By @28anand

Full interview 🎥 🔽 #INDvSA | @Paytm pic.twitter.com/V9ySL4JKDl

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 8, 2022

“My goal is to give my best for Team India now,” – Umran Malik

He said in the video that he was on the team bus when he was picked for India and dale Steyn congratulated him after that. He said: “When I got selected for India, Dale Sir (Steyn) was with me on the team bus. We were going for the match. Everyone congratulated me and Dale sir said, ‘I told you before the IPL that you would get the India call-up after the season. And that’s exactly what happened, by the grace of god. My goal is to give my best for Team India now,”

He also shared his experience after he met with Rahul Dravid, the Team India coach. “I was very happy to meet and talk with Rahul sir. He is such a legend of the game. He just told me to keep continuing what I do. Paras sir was also standing behind me and he was guiding me after every ball. It was giving me a lot of confidence,” he concluded.

He will be in action for Team India if gets selected for playing XI against the Proteas in the upcoming series.