Won’t cut down on pace: Umesh Yadav

If you look at Umesh Yadav’s statistics in the last 10 matches — First Class, List A and international games — you’d be surprised that the 23-year-old doesn’t have a single five-wicket haul. His best figures are two for 14 and, that too, in the second innings of the Irani Trophy tie against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Yet he is part of India’s playing XI.

Let not statistics deceive us, for it does appear that he belongs to the big league. A genuine quick such as Yadav is always a pleasant welcome in a country that has to be content merely with fine swing bowlers.

Clocking 140 kmph consistently and forcing the England batsmen on the backfoot, Yadav has been a perfect foil for Praveen Kumar and R Vinay Kumar. Bowling with the new ball, the two Kumars have been giving India the early breakthroughs. Yadav, with his express pace, has been able to sustain the pressure even with the older ball which doesn’t swing on these slow Indian tracks.

Not only has he bowled at full steam, he has also kept the Englishmen on a tight leash with surprise changes in line and length.

Slowly and gradually, the boy from Vidarbha is coming of age. Refreshingly, he admits that pace is his USP and there’s no question of tinkering with the quality to preserve his body.  “I won’t cut down on my pace, for that is why I am in the Indian team,” Yadav told DNA.

The son of a coal miner, Yadav may not have the best economy rate to show for his efforts. There are times when he appears to border on the erratic. His short balls might be condemned to the ropes, or a certain Kevin Pietersen may come across the line and flick him towards square-leg.

Yet he has been posting the numbers on the wicket column. Even though he conceded 50 runs from eight overs in the second ODI against England in Delhi, he stalled a potentially threatening partnership. First, he had an in-form Pietersen caught behind the wicket and later he castled a well-set Samit Patel (42) that sealed England’s fate.

“I enjoyed bowling there (in Delhi) and taking those crucial wickets. Yes, I was expensive but it happens. Right now I’m enjoying playing for India and that’s what matters,” Yadav said.
And he insisted that he wasn’t yet feeling the heat of international cricket. “There is no pressure as such. I know I tend to go expensive but that is how I learn. I am enjoying bowling for India and bowling in tandem with the other pacers,” he added.

His teammate and new ball bowler Vinay Kumar believes Yadav’s pace has lent more teeth to the attack. “It is an advantage to have two new balls (one from each end),” Kumar said, adding, “now the ball retains its shine till the 10th over unlike in the past when it would lose it by the sixth over. His (Yadav’s) pace is of immense help when the ball gets older. You saw it in Delhi where the wicket was slow. He constantly had the batsmen in trouble.”

Yadav in series
At Hyderabad: 5-0-32-2 (Samit Patel & Graeme Swann)
At New Delhi: 8.2-0-50-2 (Kevin Pietersen & Samit Patel)