Umran Malik’s fastest ball gets him a Minnal Murali avatar, director Basil Joseph approves

Pacer Umran Malik’s 156kph thunderbolt during the first one day international of the ongoing India vs Sri Lanka series earned him the distinction of becoming the fastest delivery ever by an Indian bowler. And the delivery has been celebrated with much gusto, by his IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad and a particular post was even approved by Minnal Murali filmmaker Basil Joseph.

Umran had sent down the record ball in his second over of the match in Guwahati to Sri Lankan batter Charith Asalanka. While there was some confusion regarding the pace of the ball, which was also clocked at 145.7 kph during the English broadcast, this seems to have cleared, with now the ‘Jammu Express’ owning the record for bowling the fastest delivery in T20Is, ODIs and IPL, clocking speeds of 155kph, 156kph and 157kph, respectively.

This prompted Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had retained the paces for Rs 4 crore for the upcoming season, to post a photo of Umran in his Minnal Murali avatar. For the initiated, Minnal Murali is a desi superhero from the eponymous Malayalam film, starring Tovino Thomas and is currently streaming on Netflix. One of his superpowers, including lightning quick speed.

The movie’s director Basil Joseph was quick to reshare the post as well as applaud the cricketer. Basil, who is friends with India cricketer Sanju Samson, is also a cricket enthusiast and a die-hard fan. In fact, during the shoot of Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, the filmmaker-actor had said he and the team would spend most of the time after the filming, playing cricket. And he had even invited Sanju for a game during the shoot of the film, which is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

Meanwhile, Umran is also part of the second ODI, which is played at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.