Brian Lara feels India pacer Umran Malik needs to add variety to his bowling.© AFP
West Indies batting great Brian Lara feels India pacer Umran Malik needs to add variety to his bowling in order to succeed at international level. Umran broke into the Indian side after impressing everyone with his pace during last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) season. He was rewarded with an India call-up, and went on to make his T20I and ODI debuts later that year in June and November, respectively. However, his form massively dipped during this year’s IPL, and was even dropped from the team due to the same.
Lara, who worked with Umran during his stint with SunRisers Hyderabad, said while the youngster’s pace is impressive, he needs to work a few factors.
“He will be a sensation, but very quickly he will have to learn that fast bowling really does not trouble the best players in the world. You have to have the ability to do something with the ball, be sensible, and maybe understand times when you have to trickle back or understand the times when you have to up the tempo. He is very young and has got a lot of years ahead of him,” Lara said on ‘Wake Up With Sorabh’ YouTube channel.
Lara emphasised that Umran can become a top bowler in the future if he former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn takes him under his tutelage.
“We have had so many different examples. Wasim Akram was raw pace, Malcolm Marshall had destructive pace, and Michael Holding. But they all know that at some point in time, they had to come with a lot more tricks than just being able to bowl fast. If he (Umran Malik) works with Dale Steyn, he could definitely be one of the best India could produce,” he added.
Steyn is currently the bowling coach of SRH, while Lara stint as head coach came to an end earlier this month after just one season at the helm.
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