‘Umran Malik will be an X-factor in Tests’ – Sanjay Manjrekar gives an out of the box advice to India selectors

As India is ready to take on the Windies for a 2-match test series the former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar gives his take on the team. He sited that the Indian selector can look up to the Jammu speedster Umran Malik. ‘Umran Malik will be an X-factor in Tests’ – Sanjay Manjrekar gives his advice on Indian team selection.

The men in blue are set to face West Indies away from home in a multi-format series. The tour will begin with a two-match test series followed by a 3 match ODI and a 5 match T20I series. The first test will be played at Domnica starting from the 12th of July.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan are the notable debutants who will play their first-ever Test match. India has also experimented with their bowling lineup as they have rested Mohammad Shami and given a chance to left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat.

‘Umran Malik will be an X-factor in Tests’ – Sanjay Manjrekar

The former Indian cricket who is well known for his commentary has given a bold opinion on Umran Malik’s selection in the Indian team. Manjrekar stated that Umran Malik can be best used in the test matches as he has that extra pace to make batsman do some silly mistakes.

He said that in the context of Mark Wood’s ferocious spell against the Aussies in the 3rd Ashes Test. He said “I believe if you have to pick Umran (Malik), give him a chance in Test cricket because we saw when Mark Wood played the last Ashes Test, a guy who can bowl 90 miles per hour, his specialty is that the tail-enders don’t stay against him for long,”

Umran can be best used in red-ball cricket instead white ball

The Indian bowling lineup proved to be very one-dimensional in the WTC Final 2023 which made everyone criticize the team selectors. In the bowling lineup, only Mohammad Siraj clicked the speed of 145 that too on very rare occasions.

On the other hand, Australia was having a variety of bowlers which in the end proved to be decisive.

Manjrekar added “So, if you have to see Umran Malik, instead of white-ball cricket, if you have a Test series that is not that high-profile, give him a chance there, three-four over spells. So, he will be an X-factor in our bowling,”

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The Jammu Express have only played 8 ODI’s and T20s in which he has bagged 13 and 11 wickets respectively. He has got that extra pace but the bowler still needs to focus on his line length to get a test call-up.