The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have roped in a young fast bowler from Jammu & Kashmir Umran Malik as a short-term replacement for T Natarajan. Incidentally, the India international tested COVID-19 positive on the eve of their first game in the UAE against Delhi Capitals on Thursday.
“Sunrisers Hyderabad have brought in medium pacer Umran Malik as a short-term COVID-19 replacement for T Natarajan for their VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign. Natarajan had tested positive for COVID-19 before the team’s fixture against Delhi Capitals on September 22nd,” BCCI said in a statement.
Umran Malik has played one T20 and List A match for Jammu Kashmir and has picked a total of four wickets. He is already part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad as a net bowler and is currently in the UAE.
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Meanwhile, under regulation 6.1 (c), franchises are allowed to sign a short-term replacement player until the original squad member is permitted to re-enter the team’s bio-secure environment. Hence, Malik will only be a part of the SRH squad until T Natarajan recovers and is allowed to join the team.
SRH toil last in the IPL 2021 points table
The Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a humiliating defeat against Delhi Capitals as their chances of making it to the playoffs hand by the wire.
Batting first, SRH could only score 134 runs in their 20 overs. At one point, it looked like they would struggle to cross the 100-figure mark, but some late blitz from Abdul Samad and Rashid Khan propelled them to 134. However, it was not enough to save the day for him.
In reply, Shikhar Dhawan got Delhi off to a flier once again. He scored 42 off 37 balls before Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant took center stage. They smashed the SRH bowlers to sail past the target with 13 balls to spare. Iyer remained unbeaten on 47 runs while skipper Pant contributed 35 runs to the winning cause.
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