IPL 2022: SRH's Umran Malik returns among wickets with three big scalps in two overs against KKR

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s pace sensation Umran Malik returned to form on Saturday when the 22-year-old bowler ended his three-match wicket-less drought with a figure of 3/33 against Kolkata Knight Riders during an IPL 2022 match at MCA, Pune.

All of his three wickets on the day came off his first two overs and triggered KKR’s middle-order collapse as Ajinkya Rahane (28), Nitish Rana (26) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (15) were all gone in space of 16 deliveries.

Malik first got rid of Rana on the third ball of the eighth over when the Jammu pacer, bowling his first over of the day, bowled a short delivery aimed at Rana’s torso after setting him up for a bouncer. The southpaw only managed a half-hearted scoop to the fielder standing at deep mid-wicket.

Rahane’s wicket, however, came off a wide bouncer off the last ball of the over, which the right-handed batter upper-cut to the deep-point fielder in Shashank Singh, who completed a brilliant catch on the edge of the boundary.

Iyer’s wicket came off a full delivery on his pads at the end of the 10th over of the innings that the KKR captain flicked straight to the deep mid-wicket fielder.

The spell comes as a relief for the pacer, who gave away 125 runs in the last 10 overs he bowled in IPL (over three matches) while claiming no wickets.

The rest of the SRH bowlers couldn’t exactly build on the momentum as KKR posted a challenging 178-run target after some heavy lifting from Andre Russell (49 not out) and Sam Billings (34) down the order.

Malik, however, remained the man of the moment as experts and fans took to Twitter to praise the pacer.

Umran Malik on point once again. @KKRiders need bit of a recover, the run rate is just fine. #KKRvSRH #IPL2022

— Reema Malhotra (@ReemaMalhotra8) May 14, 2022

What’s up in #CSK? Stories of Ravindra Jadeja being discontented have been swirling around for a while. He’s unfollowed the official twitter handle. TodayAmbati Rayudu tweets he’s retiring from IPL after this season, then deletes his tweet!

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) May 14, 2022

UMRAN MALIK IS ON FIRE. He gets the big wicket of Shreyas Iyer. 🔥💪🏾#JammuExpress #KKRvSRH #OrangeArmy #ReadyToRise #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/EFgtnpU3tQ

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) May 14, 2022

Umran Malik is on a mission tonight, gets the KKR captain now. 3rd wicket for him in just 2 overs, what a show.

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 14, 2022