"Lekin hum kehte hai ki achha hua jo nahi khela"- Umran Malik's father on son missing the T20 World Cup spot

Team India speedster Umran Malik made quite an impression on his ODI debut against New Zealand in Auckland on Friday. The youngster conceded 66 runs, but also picked up two wickets and surprised a few Kiwi batters with his searing pace.

It was Umran Malik's raw pace that made many fans and former cricketers heap praise on him, with some wishing that Team India had included him in their T20 World Cup squad. Malik was picked just as a net bowler and couldn't travel to Australia due to visa issues.

However, speaking to News18, Umran Malik's father Abdul Rashid explained why it was better that he wasn't rushed into the T20 World Cup squad. He said:

“Dekhiye janab… Log keh rahe the na, ki world cup nahi khela, lekin hum kehte hai ki achha hua jo nahi khela. Jo jab hona rehta hai wahi hota hai! (People were saying that he couldn’t get selected for the World Cup. We think it is great that he didn’t make it. Things happen when they are meant to)."

Umran's father was pretty practical about the fact that there were several others in the pecking order ahead of his son. He added:

“You don’t need to rush behind anything. The kid is in the learning phase. He shares the dressing room with the experienced ones. He’ll go there and learn from them. You need not hurry. The big players who are already there are doing pretty well while others get the opportunity after being noticed."

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Umran Malik's father on the speedster's ODI debut

Umran Malik wasn't picked in the XI in the T20Is against New Zealand. His father was aware of fans' disappointment that the Men in Blue had left out his son as well as Sanju Samson. Umran had to wait for his chance, but he did get it in the first ODI and his father was very happy with his performance.

On this, Abdul Rashid stated:

“It was important for him to play the ODIs and he made a decent debut. The almighty backed him so did the entire nation. Sabka kehna tha ki Umran Mallik aur Sanju Samson ko khilao (People were talking about getting Umran and Sanju Samson in the team. It happened today and we felt great."

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Squad for New Zealand ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik.