After his superlative performances for Hyderabad in the 2022 season of the Indian T20 League, pace-bowling sensation Umran Malik made his way to the Indian team. The 22-year-old, who bowls consistently in excess of 150 km/h, recently played a T20I series against Sri Lanka and impressed everyone.
The 23-year-old young fast bowler took a total of 22 wickets in 14 matches for the Hyderabad-based franchise in the cash-rich league and was later included in the series against South Africa in June last year due to his impressive performance.
He also became India’s fastest bowler in history when he clocked 156kph last month, during the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati. Many fans and cricketers compared him with the Pakistan legendary fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar because of his raw pace. Playing for India, Umran has taken 11 wickets in 8 T20I matches, while in ODIs, he has gathered 13 wickets in 8 matches so far.
Zaman Khan will be seen playing in PSL
Meanwhile, there is another fast bowler who is garnering a lot of attention in the cricketing world because of his pace. Zaman Khan, the young Pakistani bowler, will play for Lahore Qalandars in Pakistan Super League (PSL). He was compared with Umran but he said the speed does not matter to him, he only focuses on performance. It will be interesting to see how he performs in the upcoming season of PSL.
The Pakistan youngster was asked about his pace and he had a rather straightforward reply. “If you talk about pace… I don’t really care about pace. I care about performances. It’s the performance that matters. Your pace is natural to you,” Zaman told local media in an interaction, posted by Paktv.tv on their YouTube channel. When asked again to comment on whether he’s targeting to go past Umran, he said, “If god wills… let’s see.”
Zaman is yet to make his Pakistan debut but has taken 40 wickets in 30 T20 matches (overall) in his career so far. He has also appeared in seven List A matches, taking six wickets. The right-arm pacer will be appearing for the Qalandars in the upcoming edition of PSL.
