After winning the T20I series by 1-0, the Men in Blue clashed with New Zealand again in a three-match ODI series on Friday. The Kiwi captain won the toss and elected to bowl first inviting the Indian team to set up a target.
ODI veteran Shikhar Dhawan and youngster Shubman Gill came onto bat first and brought out a remarkable partnership of 124 runs for the first wicket. It was Gill who departed the first at 50 off 65 balls on a Lockie Ferguson ball. The right-hand batter Shreyas Iyer came next and played another half-century knock to add to his brilliant career. Iyer made 80 off 76 but the next two middle-order batters failed to add significant runs to the scoreboard.
Following Rishabh Pant (15) and Suryakumar Yadav’s (4) failure with bat, Sanju Samson (36) and Washington Sundar (37) took charge of batting and took India to a substantial 306/7 in 50 overs.
While India’s batting was decent, it was in the second half that brought about two exciting new prospects to the foray. Arshdeep Singh and pace sensation Umran Malik made their debut in ODI’s for the Indian team in New Zealand.
It was Umran Malik who hoarded all the limelight with his insane pace that is hardly seen by any Indian bowler. The Jammu Kashmir cricketer bowled a wicket-taking delivery at 150 km/h.
That was however not the end of Malik’s pace, as he bettered the delivery with a sensational 153.1 km/h against the Kiwis. Although India lost the match, the fans were more excited to see a true pace bowler bowling in Indian colours.
Here’s how fans reacted to Umran Malik’s bowling against New Zealand:
Umran Malik – Remember the name. pic.twitter.com/MPoJKWAlGW
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) November 25, 2022
153.1 KM/HR in his first ODI spell ?
PACE IS PACE YAAR ?#UmranMalik #NZvsIND #Cricket pic.twitter.com/pBsQlG6dok
— Shubham (@pshubham_) November 25, 2022
All of us right now ??#UmranMalik #OrangeArmy #TeamIndia #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/p2k0WPDfGf
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) November 25, 2022
Keeping an eye on team score and bowling speed in Umran Malik's over. pic.twitter.com/m0YqdBy2OF
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) November 25, 2022
An outstanding ODI debut for Umran Malik! Scorecard won’t tell you how good he bowled but he was the best fast-bowler for India in this match! #NZvIND
— Mohsin Kamal (@64MohsinKamal) November 25, 2022
Umran Malik bowling consecutive deliveries of 150km/h pic.twitter.com/tZRpMtl0Dy
— PrinCe (@Prince8bx) November 25, 2022
man this is what fast bowler shud be like we have kuldeep sen and mohsin khan too who can bowl 140s regularly we just have to let go bhuvi axar and harshal nw indian pace attack shud be bumrah arshdeep umran and siraj #Umranmalik #indvsnzlive #INDvsNZ #suryakumar #umranmalik pic.twitter.com/MoDXQX6tWK
— Anant yadav (@krishna___786) November 25, 2022
Young man from Jammu & Kashmir wearing India Colours!
A surreal feel to see representation from a culturally cricket rich, but historically starved region.#UmranMalik #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/MemVYYTulC
— Farhan Seh (@FarhanSeh) November 25, 2022
Many congratulations to the pace sensation @umran_malik_01 on his ODI debut. Onwards & upwards pic.twitter.com/rjZvSx441a
— Mohit Bhan ???? ???? (@buttkout) November 25, 2022
Umran Malik is bowling with a speed of 150 kmph
NZ Batsman: pic.twitter.com/GH62JJ2QcA
— Tanmay Sinha (@srcasticwriter) November 25, 2022
