When I broke glass windows at young age, my mother urged me to break more, recalls Umran Malik

Umran Malik has become one of the most exciting young and talented cricketers around following a successful IPL 2022 campaign with Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 22-year-old picked up 22 wickets in 14 matches this year, and riding on that, he has earned a maiden international call-up for the upcoming five-match T20I series versus South Africa, starting from June 9.

Umran was recently interviewed at the Indian Express Idea Exchange and there, he recalled his childhood memories as a bowler. The Jammu and Kashmir-born cricketer revealed he broke a lot of window glasses with plastic balls when he was young, but his mother never stopped him from playing.

“I loved fast bowling from the beginning. When I was young, I would play with a plastic ball at home and would get scolded for breaking glass windows. But even then, my mother would not stop me from playing and would say, ‘Khel, tod’ (Play, break),” Umran said at the Indian Express Idea Exchange.

Further, when asked about his father’s family business of selling fruits, Malik commented: “That is our family business for the past 70 years. My grandfather, father, and uncle have been working on it. It is not that if I am playing for India, my father will stop working. My father always tells me that we will remain where we have risen from. I come from an average family. I feel very happy that I have made my father proud.”

Malik will be hoping to make his debut when India will go up against South Africa in Delhi on June 9.