Umran Malik gives priceless response to question about Shoaib Akhtar's fastest delivery record

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 150kmph, recently played a white-ball series against Bangladesh and impressed everyone.

He has been making waves because of his express pace. Recently, he was asked about breaking Shoaib Akhtar's record of the fastest delivery in International cricket. In response to that, Malik said that he doesn't think about that and that his only focus is performing well for his team.

“Right now, I'm only thinking about performing well for the country. If I do well, and if I'm lucky, I'll break that. But I don't think about it at all,” said Umran.

“You don't get to realise how fast you've bowled during the match. It's only when we come back after the game when we get to know how fast I was. During the game, my only focus is on bowling in the right areas and picking wickets,” the 23-year-old pacer further added.

Umran will be back in action against Sri Lanka

Notably, former Pakistani international cricketer, Akhtar holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery in international cricket when he touched the 161.3 kmph mark against England during the 50-over World Cup 2003 match in Cape Town.

The Jammu and Kashmir pacer is included in India’s squad for both the T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting 3rd January 2022. He will be looking to impress and book a spot in India’s squad for the ODI World that is to be held in India, later, this year.

India’s squad for the T20I series against Sri Lanka

Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar

India’s squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka

Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh