One of the most promising pacers in Indian cricket, Umran Malik was expected to take his career to a new level in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 but his performances have been far from satisfactory. As Sunrisers Hyderabad took on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the match on Thursday, skipper Aiden Markram didn’t even know why Umran was not a part of the playing XI. When former India cricketer Virender Sehwag was asked about Umran’s absence and Makram’s unawareness, the retired cricketer gave a concerning response.
Though Sehwag admitted that Umran is out of the team because of underperformance, he feels something did happen behind the scenes because of which he was dropped from the match against RCB. But, the fact that Markram wasn’t aware of the reason tells one that something was not right between Umran and the SRH management.
“I feel you can do anything behind the scene that is your life, you if you are performing in the ground and you are working hard for it, that is important for me. When I was the coach or mentor, I believed that when you in the ground I want to 100 per cent effort from you, off the field what you do, I have not meaning in that, that is your life. I truly did not understand what ‘behind the scene’ meant. Maybe that he (Umran) had a spat with the management or maybe there was some misbehaviour, then that is bad. You were given an opportunity, you did not perform, now you have to wait until your next chance. You should shut the mouths with your performance,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Sehwag also saw similarities between the current situation and the David Warner – SRH management case from last year.
“I think something similar was said by David Warner as well. This was the same language, only Markram put it in a better way,” he said.
“Probably Markram genuinely doesn’t know why Umran has been dropped or he maybe told not to pick him. And when Markram has been provided with no reason then what else will he say,” he added.
SRH, courtesy of the loss to RCB, have remained bottom of the points table with just 4 wins in 13 matches.
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