Sunday was a memorable day for Umran Malik the fast bowling sensation from Jammu and Kashmir. The 22 year old was given his call up to the Indian national side for the 5 game T20 series against South Africa. The fast bowler has impressed everyone with his pace and the ability to hurry the batsmen. Malik bowled the fastest ball of IPL 2022 when he delivered the ball at 157 KPH. Despite SRH not making the play-offs, Malik had a great season when he picked 22 wickets from 14 games.
Umran Malik drops an easy catch to give Jonny Bairstow a life –
Chasing 158 to win, Bairstow and Dhawan gave PBKS a great start when they got off to a flier. The said incident happened in the 2nd over with Sundar bowling to Bairstow. The off spinner bowled one wide outside the off-stump, Bairstow tried to hit it out of the ground. The Englishman didn’t time the ball well and Umran Malik was settling under it, but much to the shock of the SRH team and the fans he dropped the catch.
Williamson-less SRH crawl to reach 157 –
Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the toss and elected to bat first in the final game of the league phase. Kane Williamson had missed the game as he went back to NZ to welcome the birth of his child. Abhishek Sharma top scored 43 for the SRH franchise to keep his good form going. Sharma was ably supported by Tripathi (20), Markram (21). Washington Sundar and Romario Shepherd added 58 for the 6th wicket which enabled SRH each 157 on the board. Sundar scored 25 off 19 balls, while Shepherd scored 26 off 15 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes.
PBKS blaze to an easy win –
Chasing 158 to win the game, PBKS openers Jonny Bairstow and Dhawan added 28 runs in quick time. Bairstow was out for 23 off 15 balls when was bowled by Farooqi, but Dhawan and Khan added 38 for the 2nd wicket. Malik got wicket of dangerous Shah Rukh Khan for 19, before Sundar got PBKS captain Agarwal for 1. Dhawan and Livingstone then added a quick 41 run stand for 4th wicket before Dhawan fell to Farooqi for 39. Jitesh Sharma came out and struck a quick 7 ball 19 before falling to Suchith. Liam Livingstone who has been the star of the tournament stayed not out on 49. The Englishman helped IPL enter record books when he struck the 1000th six during the league phase. He also struck the 1001st six to seal the game for PBKS with 5 wickets in hand and 29 balls to spare.
Twitter users lambast Umran Malik for the easy drop –
The drop of Jonny Bairstow might not have had a significance on the tournament chances for SRH, but the cricket fans weren’t happy one bit. Once he dropped the catch, Umran Malik, was called out and roundly criticized for his sloppy work in the field. The new Indian team entrant was asked the fans to be careful about his work in the field. You can read the tweets from fans embedded below.
I think, umran make Jonny bairstow a captain or vice captain of his fantasy team that's why he dropped his catch. @CricCrazyNIKS
— Jigar prajapati (@Jigarpr47848621) May 22, 2022