What’s the story?
He was criticised just a while back for being wayward and inconsistent. Now the toast of the series win against Australia, Umesh Yadav has been hailed for his stupendous display of pace bowling, giving the opposition batsmen are torrid time with his searing pace that saw him pick up 17 wickets from four Tests.
Yadav has revealed the reason behind his inspired spell in the second innings of the Dharamsala. While speaking to bcci.tv, Yadav conceded that the Australian team, in a way, gave him as to how to go about his plans on day 3.
“The way their pacers were bowling bouncers, especially Pat Cummins, the plan in the second innings was to bowl as many bouncers as possible”.
In case you didn’t know…
The combination of Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar turned on the heat on the Australian batsmen in the Dharamsala Test, especially in the second innings, with the duo extracting considerable bounce of the pitch and stifling the batsmen.
Umesh picked up two wickets in a single spell, and increased his tally with another wicket towards the end of the innings to dent Australia’s chances of putting up a formidable target for the hosts. He was ably assisted by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who helped himself to the wicket of Steve Smith, one of the most prized Aussie wickets.
The heart of the matter
Yadav conceded that he himself received a barrage of bouncers, especially by Pat Cummins, upon his arrival at the crease during India’s second innings. He revealed that he was welcomed by more than a couple of bouncers, and decided during the innings break that he was capable of doing the same to the Australian batsmen.
His bowling partner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, also reveals that when he was batting and Cummins was hurling bouncers, David Warner had come up to him and asked if it was too fast for him. Bhuvneshwar did the same to Warner in the very next innings, and retorted with the very same question to the Australian opener. Yadav went on to snare Warner, as well as Matt Renshaw, his opening partner.
The 29-year old also added that, this being India’s last match of the series and season, he wanted to give his all and make sure India ended on the winning side.
What’s next?
After a thoroughly improved performance as a Test bowler, the focus for Umesh will now shift to the IPL, where he will ply his trade for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. He will return to the whites for the Indian team next for the series against Sri Lanka later this year.
Author’s take
Yadav’s stunning spell of bowling won him many hearts, for it was heartening to see an Indian pacer generate such pace and bounce to disconcert batsmen, something that the Indian batsmen have been subjected to often on foreign pitches. Sourav Ganguly has rightly called him the find of the season. If he manages to remain injury free and maintain the same consistency, he can easily spearhead the Indian pace attack for years to come.
Extra cover: India vs Australia 2017: Rating the Indian players in the series
