Umer Gul Biography
source(goole.com.pk)
Umar Gul is a talented cricketer, who was born on April 14, 1984 in Peshwar, North-Western Frontier Province of Pakistan. He is a right-handed batsman and a specialist in medium-fast bowling.
He made his Test debut in the home series against Bangladesh, in Karachi in August 2003. By taking 15 wickets in his first Test series, he became the second Pakistani bowler, next to Shabbir Ahmed, his teammate, to secure more number of wickets in the series. In the same season, he played in two other Test matches against New Zealand claiming four wickets in one Test match that ended in a draw. Umar Gul came in as a replacement in the second Test of the three-Test series against India. He scalped five wickets, which included top-order batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. For his impressive five wickets and 31 runs in the second Test, Umar Gul was given the ‘Man of the Match’. Of his 16 Test matches, he picked up 67 wickets with a bowling average of 31.55 and made 136 runs. With his good control of line and length in fast bowling, he has managed to take three five-wicket hauls in Test matches.
Umar Gul began his One Day International (ODI) career on April 3, 2003 in a match against Zimbabwe at the Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup. He played in all the three group matches of the 2007 World Cup picking up four wickets with an impressive economy rate of 3.13. Having played 48 ODIs, he holds a good bowling average of 28.45 for 64 wickets, which includes one five-wicket haul.
Umar Gul played his first international Twenty 20 (T20I) match on September 4, 2007 against Kenya in Nairobi. He took three New Zealand wickets conceding 15 runs of just four overs at the International Cricket Council (ICC) World T20 of 2007. His achievement helped Pakistan to win the semi-final against New Zealand. Umar Gul took three wickets in the final match against India and became the highest wicket-taker in the series. He played three matches for Peshawar team at the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and represented the Pakistan A in a few matches. Before being selected in the 2006 Pakistani squad for the England tour, Umar Gul played some warm-up matches with Pakistan XI.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2008 campaign, he was purchased for a price of $150,000 to represent the Kolkata Knight Riders team. On May 25, 2008, in a match against Kings XI Punjab, he claimed four wickets for 23 runs. For his commendable performance in the game, Umar Gul won the Player of the Match award. He played six innings scoring 39 runs with a strike rate of 205.26. Umar Gul took 12 wickets conceding 184 runs with a bowling average of 15.33 and an economy rate of 8.17.