Ranjit Thakur
JAMMU, July 6: Jammu and Kashmir pace sensation, Umran Malik has been selected in the Indian squad for the T20 Internationals and ODI series against West Indies.
The Indian team is scheduled to play a series of five T20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) in the West Indies. The T20 series will begin from August 3, 2023 whereas the ODI series will start from 27 July 2023 in the Caribbean Islands and in Florida, USA.
Immediately after the announcement of the Indian squad for the T20 Internationals and ODI series against West Indies, celebrations had begun among family and friends of fast bowler Umran Malik as the people of Jammu had pinned high hopes from the pace sensation in the coming series.
His father, Abdul Rashid said that his son’s hard work has paid off after he was picked by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the upcoming series against West Indies.
“It is due to the hard work of Umran and blessings of people of Jammu and Kashmir and the nation that Umran has been selected in the Indian team for ODIs and T20”, Abdul Rashid said.
“I am extremely happy for his selection. Umran is the pride of Jammu and Kashmir, but we are overwhelmed to see the response of people from across India, how people adore him. He has learned a lot while playing with big names of the country and world in a short period of time in IPL, but still a lot has to be learned” he added.
“Through Umran’s success it is evident that without hardwork and passion nothing can be achieved. I’m his greatest supporter and it gives me immense pride to see such youngsters excelling in sports that too from Jammu and Kashmir ‘’, one of his admirers said.
“After reaching home today, Umran straightaway reached the playing field and started practicing, he is a hardworking player and I urge people to support him so that he does wonders on the field,” his father said.
The Member of BCCI, Sub Committee Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, Brigadier Anil Gupta while speaking to Excelsior said, “It’s a very good development, earlier he was selected for One Day Internationals and now he has been chosen for T20I and we hope that he will give his best in West Indies.”
“Jammu and Kashmir has a lot of potential especially in rural areas such as Doda, Poonch, Banihal, Bandipora and Kupwara. During our talent hunt programmes, we have selected a lot of girls and boys from these areas who have tremendous potential, but lack basic infrastructural facilities,” he added.
“We are seeking Government’s help to develop district level grounds so that we can create pitches at the grassroots level for motivating more players towards the game. We have conducted many selection trials in rural areas and a number of players are playing with us at present. These players have never dreamt of coming out of their shells and now they are playing in our camps “he further added.
“As an association, we never focus on the IPL. We groom players for red ball cricket that represents India in test cricket. Shorter form of cricket is not a real cricket it’s just an entertainment, the real cricket is test cricket” the Brigadier said while replying to a question regarding increasing number of J&K players in IPL.
“We are grooming test cricketers; we also wish Umran Malik to focus on test cricket and recently we motivated him and also recommended his name for Duleep Trophy, but his workload management is done by BCCI, he has to take permission before playing anywhere.” He added.
Umran has represented India in 8 ODI’s and has taken 13 wickets with an economy of 6.45 and an average of 27.3. He has represented the country in 8 T20I’s also and has taken 11 wickets with an average of 22.1.
However, after a lackluster performance in IPL 2023, the tour will provide Umran another opportunity to establish himself in the Indian team.
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