Irfan gives it back to PAK pacer for his ‘our domestic setup is filled with bowlers like Umran Malik’ remark

Pakistan’s veteran pacer Sohail Khan, who last represented the Men in Green in 2017 and is best known for his five-fer versus India in the 2015 ODI World Cup, has been in the news of late. Sohail had an interaction recently, where he said a number of things about Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Umran Malik, Gautam Gambhir, etc.

Pakistani cricketers — especially former players — often make the headlines for their glaring remarks on Indian cricket. Sohail joined the bandwagon when he recently commented on India’s young pacer Umran Malik. Speaking on The Nadir Ali podcast, he said, “I feel this Umran Malik guy is a good bowler. I’ve seen 1-2 matches. He runs fast and has kept other things in check as well. But if you think of fast bowlers with speed in excess of over 150-155 kph, I can count 12-15 players right now who play tape-ball cricket. If you go visit the trails organised by Lahore Qalandars, you’ll find many players.”

Sohail added, “Iske (Umran Malik) jaise toh bohot hain. Domestic cricket bhari padi hai hamaari. (Our domestic setup is filled with bowlers like Umran Malik). When a bowler comes through in our domestic level, he becomes a bonafide bowler. Like Shaheen, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf… these are bowlers who know their stuff. I can give you plenty of names.”

Thus, Sohail’s statement on Umran — where he says such raw pacers are in abundance in Pakistan’s domestic circuit — hasn’t been well received by many Indian cricket fans. A Twitterati, named Major Gaurav Arya took note of Sohail’s comments and schooled him, reminding him of Javed Miandad’s ill-comments on Irfan Pathan on the eve of India’s historic tour of Pakistan in 2004. Here’s what he tweeted: 

“Pakistani cricketer says Umran Malik jaise humare domestic cricket mein bhare pade hain. Javed Miandad said the same about Irfan Pathan. Phir Irfan ne Pakistan mein ja kar Pakistan ki team ka band bajaya tha. Yaar tum log thoda kam bola karo (Pakistan cricketer says there are plenty of bowlers like Umran Malik in our domestic circuit. Javed Miandad had said the same about Irfan Pathan. He then went to Pakistan and proved his worth. Pakistanis should speak less),” the Twitter user wrote.

India’s former all-rounder Irfan joined in and gave a befitting reply to Sohail by saying, “Major sahab ese statements de kar inhe attention chahiye. Ignore maariye (Major, they want to get attention by making these statements. Please ignore).”

Talking about the Twitter user’s mention of Miandad’s comments on Irfan, it was during India’s 2004 tour of Pakistan when the then Pakistani coach brushed aside the pacer’s threat. Irfan had a stellar run in India’s 2003/04 tour of Australia. However, Miandad played it down whereas Irfan maintained silence and let his performances do the talking. Irfan chipped in with key scalps in India’s 3-2 ODI series win whereas ended with 12 wickets, at 28.50, to help Sourav Ganguly & Co. beat Pakistan 2-1 in three Tests.

Speaking of Umran, he made a mark at the highest level during IPL 2022 with 22 scalps; the fourth-most by any. Since then, his stocks have risen. While he missed out on being a part of India’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad, he has remained in the scheme of things of India’s white-ball setup. 

Recently, Umran was part of India’s 2-1 T20I series win over New Zealand at home. With the ODI World Cup set to be held later this year in India, the 23-year-old will be eager to remain consistent with the ball and be a part of the national squad for the showpiece event.