New Delhi: Tearaway quick Umran Malik went unsold during the first lot of capped pacers and just when it appeared he wouldn’t have any takers in the second lot, Kolkata Knight Riders picked him up at the Indian Premier League mega auction.
He was bought by the defending champions for his base price of Rs 75 lakh and team mentor Dwayne Bravo said he is looking forward to have the opportunity of working with him.
Malik arrived at the scene in IPL 2022 and caught the eye with his express pace. The right armer consistently clocked over 150kph that troubled batters.
But after his breakthrough in 2022 for Sunrisers Hyderabad, his waywardness coupled with injuries derailed his progress. The 25-year-old gradually fell out of favour within the SRH team and was ultimately released and received no re-bid at the mega auction.
As he received no bid the first time when he was up for grabs, many feared his career would go downward but then KKR had other plans.
“The pace at which he operates, I always admire him — his work ethic, energy and all. Happy that we’re able to nail him down,” Bravo said, as quoted by PTI.
‘Getting Venky was one of our priorities’
KKR bid a staggering Rs 23.75 crore for batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, who played a leading role in their title triumph last year.
Their rationale to go out of their way to buy back the left arm batter after not retaining him has been questioned but Bravo said they wanted him badly.
“Getting Venky (Venkatesh Iyer) was one of the main priorities for us, as you could see, we went all out for him,” said Bravo, a four-time IPL winner at Chennai Super Kings.
“It’s good that we have 90 per cent of the players from the championship-winning team. That in itself is a positive sign. It’s important to keep your core because when you have to build from scratch, it becomes complicated to make combinations and all.”
“We started planning while I was in Trinidad. We had come with a proper plan, the players we wanted to target,” added Bravo.
Umran Malik was bought by KKR for his base price of Rs 75 lakh and team mentor Dwayne Bravo said he is looking forward to working with the speedster. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
