Umran Malik’s 150 km/h thunder sends bail flying way past 30-yard circle, dismisses Bracewell in 3rd T20I

Umran Malik is box office. India’s fast bowling unit has gone through a sea change in the last decade and a half. They now have more bench strength in the pace fowling department than spinners.

Indian fast bowlers terrorising opponents is nothing new now. Despite all this, there is a different kind of excitement whenever Umran Malik has the ball in his hand. One doesn’t have to think hard to find the reason for that. It’s his face. No other Indian bowler has breached the 150 km/h mark so consistently at the international level as Umran does.

He did it again in the series-deciding third T20I against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Umran Malik, who holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery by an Indian pacer, cleaned up New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell in the third ball of the fifth over of the visitor’s chase.

The right-arm pacer from Jammu started his spell with a 148.6 km/h wide yorker which Bracewell failed to get a bat to. A couple of balls later, the left-hander tried to charge down the track and heave Umran over the top but missed the 150 km/h delivery completely. The ball rattled his stumps and the bails flew over keeper Ishan Kishan and slip-fielder Suryakumar Yadav’s heads to land way over the 30-yard circle.

Umran also dismissed New Zealand’s top-scorer Daryl Mitchell (35) to finish the match and end up with figures of 2 for 9.

Captain Hardik Pandya was the star with the ball for India, returning with figures of 4/16 in his four overs. It appeared like the New Zealand batters were batting on a different wicket. They were bowled out for 66 while chasing 235 for victory in just 12.1 overs, succumbing to their third-lowest total. India won the match by 168 runs – their biggest in T20Is – to complete a 2-1 series win.

The night, however, belonged to Shubman Gill, who broke a plethora of records to set up the mammoth total for India with his maiden T20I hundred. Gill’s unbeaten 126 was the highest individual score by an Indian in T20Is. He also became the youngest Indian to register a century in the shortest format going past former India cricketer Suresh Raina. The 23-year-old is the fifth Indian after Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli to register an all-format century.