After recovering from injury, fast bowler Umran Malik is eager to return to the Indian cricket team. He relies on his natural ability to bowl at speeds exceeding 150 kmph, along with newly developed skills like slower deliveries and improved yorkers.Malik has been absent from the Indian team since July 2023 after taking 24 wickets in 10 ODIs and 8 T20Is. Despite the setbacks, he maintains a positive outlook.“Let me tell you one thing. Those who bowl 150 are not strike bowlers; they are attacking bowlers. They will be hit for 30 (runs) in four (overs) but will also give you wickets. A fast bowler is like that. He should know what he has to do,” Umran told select media after J&K’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh.“A bowler who bowls at 150 knows that he is a king and he has to back himself. Not everyone can bowl 150kph. It takes real guts to bowl at 150kph and I have been doing this for the last five years.”“Bowling 150kph is an art, you can’t go directly from 137 to 145. Do training, do whatever you want — this is natural, this is all natural. You need to train yourself accordingly, eat properly, rest properly, keep your body fresh so that you’re ready for the process tomorrow. Speed is my natural aspect, how can I compromise on that? Training, running, cardio –you have to maintain. There is no special diet. Pace is my strength. I have to regain my strength.”Umran has faced multiple injuries and illness but never lost confidence in his abilities.“It is not that I will feel bad mentally. I know that I will do well now. I will come back to the India team. I have confidence in myself because I am the only one who bowls at 150. But now I am bowling slower (balls) as well, which I am working on, and also the yorker. I am doing that in red-ball formats too, I’m working hard there. The rest is up to the selectors when they let me play. I am doing better now. Playing again for India is my aim now,” he continued.Despite strong competition in India’s white-ball bowling unit, Umran remains confident. “When I was playing earlier, there was this much competition. Now also the competition is the same. I don’t think there is any competition. When I am fully fit and take wickets like this, why won’t they let me play? They will let me play if I take wickets. That’s it,” he added.The 26-year-old pacer has set a straightforward goal of becoming J&K’s highest wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.“I have a simple target: to play all matches (for his home state) and become the highest wicket-taker for my team in Syed Mushtaq Ali,” he stated.Umran has already claimed five wickets in two matches, including a 3/37 against UP where he dismissed key players with his pace.“Anyone can get injured. Any batsman, bowler, fielder, anyone can get injured. You just have to know how to get out of it,” he added.“I never think about my career. I think about what I have to do the next day, what training I have to do — bowling, batting, fielding. It’s all in God’s hands who has a career and who doesn’t.“If your mindset is stable, I think you will perform better after the injury. It feels good now that the ball is coming nicely out of my hand. When a bowler has full rhythm after an injury, I think it is best for him. I think injury also teaches you a lot of things… your mindset, your body, what to do. If we play cricket for 10 years, there will be injuries. You have to keep your mindset strong. You have to keep those people with you who are positive. You have to stay away from negative people during an injury.”He dismisses concerns about losing pace with age, adding, “You can never bowl at 150 directly. You can bowl 138, 140, 142. It starts like that. I think that as long as I play, I should be positive. I don’t want to show pace to anyone. I want to show my wickets. Even if I bowl from 150 to 140 after 10 years, it doesn’t mean that I will bowl from 150 to 135 or 130.”Regarding his red-ball cricket aspirations, Umran remains open to all formats: “There is nothing different. Yes, I am ready to play in all formats.”
