Umran Malik had a breakthrough year in 2022, impressing in the previous IPL season with his impressive wicket-taking abilities and raw pace. He earned a spot in the Indian team, although he missed out on the T20 World Cup selection. Expectations were high for him in the 2023 IPL season, but his appearances for SRH were limited to just seven out of 13 matches.
Surprisingly, he only bowled 17 overs, indicating that he wasn’t even given a full quota of four overs in a game. Experts and veterans were left wondering why SRH didn’t trust Umran enough with the ball. Captain Aiden Markram provided a peculiar reason, reminding Virender Sehwag and Rohan Gavaskar of a situation involving David Warner.
Virender Sehwag confused by Aiden Markram’s remarks on Umran Malik
During the toss on Thursday, Ian Bishop questioned Aiden Markram about the ongoing omission of Umran from SRH’s playing XI.
“Not too sure to be honest. Certainly, he’s a player with the X factor, bowls at 150kph, but I don’t really what’s about behind the scenes but he has a lot of X factor,” Markram said.
The captain’s unusual explanation left many fans frustrated and others perplexed. Virender Sehwag, discussing the matter on Cricbuzz, tried to interpret the meaning behind the “behind the scenes” phrase, suggesting that Umran may have had a disagreement with the management, resulting in his benching. Sehwag also criticized the young bowler for not making a significant impact with the ball in the limited chances he received.
“I feel you can do anything behind the scene that is your life, you if you are performing in the ground and you are working hard for it, that is important for me. When I was the coach or mentor, I believed that when you in the ground I want to 100 per cent effort from you, off the field what you do, I have not meaning in that, that is your life. I truly did not understand what ‘behind the scene’ meant. It could be that he (Umran) had a fight with the management or maybe there was an argument, then that is bad. You were given an opportunity, you did not perform, now you have to wait until your next chance. You should shut the mouths with your performance,” Sehwag said.
Upon further questioning about the meaning behind the “behind the scenes” phrase, Sehwag drew a connection to David Warner, noting that it reminded him of Warner’s past remarks during his tenure with the SRH franchise.
“I think something similar was said by David Warner as well. This was the same language, only Markram put it in a better way,” he said.
During the discussion, Gavaskar shared his perspective, suggesting that it’s possible Markram was instructed not to include Umran in the team without being given a fair chance, and the skipper simply followed the instructions given to him.
“Probably Markram genuinely doesn’t know why Umran has been dropped or he maybe told not to pick him. And when Markram has been provided with no reason then what else will he say,” he said.
