“Big mistake” - Fans erupt as Umran Malik dropped from starting XI for SRH vs MI in IPL 2023

Fast bowler Umran Malik has been dropped from the starting XI by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for their match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday, April 18. Interestingly, Malik didn’t even find a place among the five substitutes for an Impact player.

The development came after Umran failed to deliver in their last four games, returning with just five scalps in four games at an economy rate of 11.09. The speedster leaked 36 runs in just two overs against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the side's previous game.

SRH retained Malik for ₹4 crore following his breakthrough season last year. He scalped 22 wickets in four games at an economy rate of 9.03.

Surprisingly, SRH captain Aiden Markram forgot that Umran Malik was dropped from the XI and the subs at the toss.

Speaking on the toss, he said:

“Not in the 16 (no changes)."

Umran Malik was replaced by all-rounder Washington Sundar.

Fans had mixed reactions to Umran's absence from playing XI. One tweeted:

“@Sunrisers dropping Umran Malik is the big mistake.”

Here are some of the other Twitter reactions:

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Umran Malik’s SRH opt to bowl against MI

Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to field against the Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. The Sunrisers picked Harry Brook, Heinrich Klassen and Marco Jansen as the other three overseas players alongside their skipper.

MI, on the other hand, chose Cameron Green, Tim David and Jason Behrendorff as the only three foreign players in their XI. The five-time IPL champions, though, included Riley Meredith on the substitutes list.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen (w), Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan.

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff.

Follow SRH vs MI live score updates here.