NZ vs IND | Umran Malik is more suited to ODIs than T20Is, claims Wasim Jaffer

After making waves in the IPL with his performance this season, Umran Malik has hogged cricket discussions in India. He made his ODI debut on Friday in the first ODI against New Zealand and returned with decent figures of 10-0-66-2. On a night when the hosts won the game by seven wickets courtesy of the Indian bowlers' lacking discipline to bowl in the right areas, Umran provided a glimmer of hope for the Men in Blues. 

Analysing Umran’s performance, former Indian batter Umran Malik has opined that the format suits him more than T20s as he lacks the kind of variations required in the shortest format. 

“As the game gets bigger, you got to have a lot more skills and that’s something they will learn. The One Day format suits Umran Malik more than T20s. We have seen in the IPL that he doesn’t have many variations compared to bowling in this format when he needs to hit the right line and lengths and use the short ball well,” Jaffer was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo.

India scalped three wickets of the hosts but a brilliant partnership between Kane Williamson and Tom Latham ensured a win for them. Latham played an unbeaten knock of 145 in the fixture to help the hosts script a seven-wicket win. Jaffer commented that the wicket got better to bat in the second innings. 

“In the second half, the wicket got a little better. In the first half, the pitch was a little sticky and the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat as we saw in the second half. But I thought those two guys batted well and it wasn’t easy for the bowlers,” he explained.