SRH sign Umran Malik as short term replacement for T Natarajan

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have added Jammu Kashmir’s right-arm pacer, Umran Malik, to their squad as a short term replacement for T Natarajan, who recently tested positive for COVID-19. Natarajan returned positive results hours before SRH’s match against DC. This was a massive setback to the BCCI as the board had laid out stringent measures to stop COVID-19 breach the bubble.

Advertisment

Umran will be with the SRH squad until T Natarajan is back in the bubble. Any player testing positive for COVID-19 will have to return negative on 9th and 10th day to re-join the bubble. The pacer was already with SRH squad as a net bowler and was available to join immediately "Under the Regulation 6.1 (c), franchises are allowed to sign a short-term replacement player until the original squad member is permitted to re-enter the team's bio-secure environment. Hence, Malik will only be a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad side until Natarajan recovers and is allowed to join the team," the IPL media release stated.

Meanwhile, the right arm pacer does not have a lot of experience behind him. So far, he has only played one List A and one T20. In his only T20, he picked up a three-wicket haul against Railways in January.

Earlier, SRH batter Sherfane Rutherford also left the team bubble after the demise of his father. No replacement for Rutherford has been announced yet. The batter was brought in as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow who pulled out of the second leg of IPL. Meanwhile, SRH were humbled by Delhi Capitals in their opening game. The loss has put SRH’s campaign in jeopardy. With one win and seven losses, they are tottering at the bottom of the points table and are on the verge of an exit from IPL 2021.