'I told him to bowl a slower ball but he ran and bowled a 155kph yorker': Dale Steyn says Umran Malik 'proved me wrong'

Umran Malik has hit another roadblock in his career. The 25-year-old tearaway pacer, once considered the next big thing in Indian cricket, is out injured and will miss the IPL 2025. Picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL mega auction for ₹75 lakh, the franchised was hopeful of Umran repeating his 2022 exploits with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, but yet another injury in the long list of setbacks has doused Umran's hopes of making a comeback to professional cricket. Umran enjoyed a breakout season three years ago with SRH, picking up 22 wickets and one that led to his India debut. And the man who worked with Umran closely that year, Dale Steyn, has some interesting tales about the Indian pacer sensation. Dale Steyn (L) spent a lot of time shaping Umran Malik at Sunrisers Hyderabad(Sunrisers/PTI)

Steyn famously called Umran a Ferrari as he knocked over the opposition with his raw pacer, shattering stumps and sending them cartwheeling. This association worked wonders for a while as Umran steadily climbed the ladder. However, during their time together at the Sunrisers' camp, Steyn recalled how Umran once went completely against his orders to prove him wrong.

During the IPL, Steyn noticed that Umran was using the slower ball a lot less – once every 4 overs – compared to senior pro Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was a lot more effective with the same delivery, bowling 12 of those in his four overs. Clearly, Steyn wanted Umran to add layers to his bowling and suggested he bowls at least two of them to start with. But the end result was totally different.

"This is quite a funny story because I went and I said that to him and he said, 'Oh, that's a great point. Thank you very much. If Bhuvi is doing it, I'll try it.' And we were sitting in a game in Mumbai and it was the perfect time for him [Umran] to bowl a slow ball. And he ran in, and I turned around and I said to Murali [Muthiah Muralidaran, Sunrisers Hyderabad assistant coach], 'I think he's going to bowl a slower ball.' And he ran in and he bowled a yorker and he knocked the stumps out all over the place," Steyn said on the ESPNCricinfo's Cricket Monthly.

"The camera turned and it pointed towards me and Murali as if the coaches had come up with this amazing thing. And I was like, you know what, sometimes the master is the guy that's actually on the field. I'm telling him to bowl a slower ball. And he ran and bowled a gas 155kph yorker and knocked the stumps out of the ground. Sometimes the stats don't really matter. But there's definitely a place for it in helping players know what other players are also doing that helps them get better. And in that case, it's something that Umran Malik can certainly work on, but he proved me wrong that day. He just said, this is my skill. I'm going to do this."

Why Umran Malik fell off the radar

But gone are the days of Umran ramping it up, bending his back and sending those fiery deliveries. Of late, he has battled multiple issues – mostly fitness-related – that have derailed his progress. In IPL 2023, Umran had just five wickets to show for his effort, only to return wicketless last year. This sharp decline, reckons Steyn, has a lot to do with realising that the team's needs come ahead of individuals.

"Sometimes you get thrown into the scene like the IPL. You come into the ground and there's 60,000 people screaming and you feel like, oh, I have to run in and I have to bowl 160kph an hour, which is great, but if it goes against the game plan and it goes against the run of play, you are going to go for 60-70 [runs] and that's not going to do your team any good. It's not going to do you any good," added Steyn.

Click here to read article