Former South African pacer Dale Steyn, who is the bowling coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), confessed that he is enjoying the role and relishing the experience of mentoring the Indian young talent Umran Malik, from Jammu Kashmir.
Indian uncapped pacer Umran is having his dream IPL season with SRH. Making it normal to bowl at the speed of 150 kph or even more than that, Malik has lit up the cricketing world with his consistency.
Umran Malik, already on the top, has bowled the fastest delivery of IPL 2022, with a speed of 153 kmph, against Gujrat Titans (GT). He has taken five wickets with an economy of 9.61. Dale Steyn, one of the best in the business, on Friday, was seen celebrating a ‘once in a while’ dismissal of Shreyas Iyer by Malik, out of a wild Yorker.
Steyn hailed Umran Malik for his overall performance, across the tournament. Admiring him, Steyn said on Star Sports, “Umran is fantastic. It (his performances) is no reflection of me at all. It’s all him at the moment. He has got amazing skills, he is showing everybody, bowling 150 kmph. I am kind of living through him, wishing I could do it. But it’s all him at the moment. He is certainly somebody whom we should keep an eye on for the future.” he added.
On asking about the experience of mentoring Malik, Dale Steyn replied, “I felt the same when I used to play. I had somebody like Alan Donald in the dressing room. I idolized Alan. When he congratulated me when I did something that was fantastic. I kind of want to do the same thing for Umran. It’s all him. I am going to just be there to put an arm around him when things are not going well and I am just going to be there to shake his hands when it goes really well.”
“We want to see him bowl fast” – Dale Steyn on Umran Malik
Dale Steyn, moreover, included that Umran Malik has been told to not worry about economy rates and to try and bowl fast and keep the opposition batters on their toes. So far in IPL 2022, the youngster from Jammu and Kashmir has done his job to perfection.
“He bowls quick, so overall from a team point of view, that’s what we want to see him bowl fast. We are not really too worried about the economy rate, this game works in circles were somebody you are going to concede 40 or 50 and someday he is going to get 3/15. So it kind of evens itself out,” he added.
The former World No.1 bowler asserted that his job is to help him think ahead in the game. Dale Steyn also added that the entire Hyderabad unit is pumped up to see Umran Malik bowl every time he goes out to bowl.
“The job that we want him to do is run in and bowl fast and take poles and make batters play differently. I think my job to him is to impart a little bit of forward-thinking, try and preempt what the batters are going to do. For us, it’s exciting to watch the genius that he is. I don’t want them to turn into what I was,” Steyn disclosed.
Written by Prachi Pisal
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