'Pace is enemy': Umran Malik receives huge advice from legendary pacer Dale Steyn to revive his career

When Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) unearthed Umran Malik to the Indian Premier League (IPL) stage, many thought India’s longstanding yearning for a genuinely quick pacer could now be over. In his second season with the team, Malik had a sensational season, racking up 22 wickets. But it was his ultra-aggressive bowling that made him a household name. Fast forward now, Malik is nowhere to be seen. Well, he just recently got dropped from Jammu & Kashmir’s Ranji Trophy team as well.

The downfall of Umran Malik

It might come as a surprise to some but Umran has played more ODIs than the likes of Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Varun Chakaravarthy. Yet, he is way low in the pecking order. Poor performances and injuries are the major reason for that. After a phenomenal IPL 2022, he was fast-tracked in international cricket and played 10 ODIs and 8 T20 internationals. But his form fizzled out. In his first 12 games, the speedster took 21 wickets handsomely. However, the consistency was not there; he had a drop to just three wickets in his next five games, which included three ODIs.

Then, injuries didn’t leave the former SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer alone. After he was caught with dengue, Malik was ruled out of IPL 2025 due to a stress fracture in his left hip. Even prior to that, he had struggled with injury, resulting him in playing just one IPL 2024 game in his last season with SRH. Then, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought him for INR 75 lakh and he was retained by the 3-time champs ahead of this season too.

Dale Steyn’s advice for Umran Malik

With Umran eyeing a comeback via IPL 2026 with KKR, he still has a lot to improve on. He was wayward at times and lacked control. On similar lines, former legendary pacer Dale Steyn has offered an advice to the superb J&K talent. With 699 international wickets, Steyn knows a thing or two about pace bowling. With his vast experience and previously working with Malik at two years (2022 and 2023) with Umran Malik, Steyn offered some tips to the youngster.

During a Q and A session on his X account, Steyn was asked about Umran Malik’s diminishing return in recent years. Taking the question in his stride, Styen replied, “Pace can be your friend as well as your biggest enemy. Umran needs to learn that he has more than 1 gear, once he starts to understand and master the art of shifting through the different paces on the respective surfaces, he’ll find his way back to where he belongs.”

Clearly, Steyn wants Malik to bowl more smartly. Yes, extreme speed is a rarity these days. But a bowler needs to know when to use his weapon. As mentioned by the former South African great, pace can be an enemy as well. Steyn adviced Malikg that he should start learning about varying his pace according to different surfaces. Mostly on Indian pitches, especially in T20s, pace can get extremely easy to hit for the batters. Hence, you have to mix up.

Pace can be your friend as well as your biggest enemy. Umran needs to learn that he has more than 1 gear, once he starts to understand and master the art of shifting through the different paces on the respective surfaces, he’ll find his way back to where he belongs.
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) January 27, 2026