New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir pace sensation Umran Malik on Sunday earned an expected India call-up for the upcoming five-match T20 International home series against South Africa starting June 9.
Umran has picked up 21 wickets in 13 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL but it’s his ability to bowl consistently at 95 miles per hour that has caught the imagination of all and sundry with calls for his immediate selection in top-flight cricket.
Along with Umran, Punjab Kings’ death overs specialist Arshdeep Singh has also earned his maiden national call-up.
As reported on July 14 by PTI, regular captain Rohit Sharma, star batter Virat Kohli, pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have all been rested for the white-ball series in which Rishabh Pant will be the vice-captain.
Rohit, Kohli, Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will all fly to England on June 15 for the one-off Test against England at Edgbaston from July 1-5 and will be joined by Cheteshwar Pujara, who has earned a recall to the 17-member Indian Test team after a stupendous show in English County Championship for Sussex.
While Umran has 21 wickets (before Sunday’s game), most of which came in the first phase when batters were getting used to his pace, it is understood that the selectors were far more impressed with Mohsin.
The Uttar Pradesh left-armer has taken 13 wickets from 8 matches at an astounding economy rate of 5.93 compared to Umran’s 8.93 in 13 games.
However, Mohsin’s dodgy hamstring made the decision easier for Chetan Sharma’s committee, which also picked Arshdeep especially for his death overs bowling for Punjab Kings.
India’s T20I squad:
- KL Rahul (Captain)
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
- Ishan Kishan
- Deepak Hooda
- Shreyas Iyer
- Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(wk)
- Dinesh Karthik (wk)
- Hardik Pandya
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Yuzvendra Chahal
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Axar Patel
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Harshal Patel
- Avesh Khan
- Arshdeep Singh
- Umran Malik.