Yadav’s white ball course correction
NEW DELHI: For the second time in as many matches, three balls were all it took for Umesh Yadav to provide KKR the opening breakthrough. If it was CSK’S Ruturaj Gaikwad who edged a wide, tempting outswinger to first slip in KKR’S first game, there was nothing much RCB’S Anuj Rawat could have done to avoid his dismissal on Wednesday. With the ball landing on a good length in that channel of uncertainty just outside Rawat’s off-stump, a bit of extra bounce and movement away from the left-hander ensured the outside edge was found through to wicketkeeper Sheldon Jackson.
There was more to come from Yadav. His duel with Virat Kohli lasted all of four balls, but it made for riveting viewing. Yadav was greeted with two exquisite boundaries—one through the covers and the second piercing the gap between square leg and mid-on—before getting one to hold its line in that probing channel and draw Kohli’s outside edge through to Jackson again. It summed up Yadav’s modus operandi— always searching for wickets even if it costs a few boundaries.
Even though KKR couldn’t get across the line on Wednesday, Yadav returned exemplary figures of 2/16 from his four overs. Four days earlier, he had taken 2/20 to be adjudged Player of the Match in KKR’S win over CSK.
You should perhaps come to expect such performances from someone who has played 52 Tests, 75 ODIS and 7 T20IS for India, but it is worth highlighting that Yadav was confined to two matches across the last two IPLS. Through much of his career, Yadav has been pigeonholed as a bowler suited to
Tests—his appearances in whites, too, have mostly come in the subcontinent due to India’s enhanced depth in the fast bowling department. But KKR’S first two matches of this IPL illustrate what many of us already knew. That if there is even a tinge of movement available, the 34-yearold will exploit it regardless of the format.
Taking cognisance of Yadav’s strengths, KKR coach Brendon Mccullum, whose attacking instincts were the hallmark of his stint as New Zealand captain, seems to have given a clear brief to the India pacer.