Umesh 2.0 is on the bounce

NASTY AND fiery aren’t terms you use often for an Indian fast bowler. But on a bouncy wicket at Dharamsala, Umesh Yadav produced an intimidating spell that had the Aussies on the hop. His burst also more or less set up a potential series win for India.

is the number of bouncers Umesh bowled in 10 overs on Monday, which is nearly 30 per cent of his deliveries. They included 3 in the space of 11 deliveries that shook up opener Matt Renshaw, who's by the way grown up playing cricket at the Gabba, with the 12th delivery, pitching on a good length, catching the left-hander in his crease and having him caught behind.

out of the 60 deliveries from Umesh actually pitched shorter than the 8 meter mark. He conceded just15 runs and took 2 wickets with those.

■ One of the biggest improvements in Umesh's bowling this season has been how he adjusts his length depending on the conditions rather than just bang the ball into the wicket. On Day One here where there was movement in the air, he stuck to using the bouncer sparingly, dishing out 12 bouncer-length balls in 15 overs.

■ On the Ranchi wicket with a bit of variable bounce, he attempted 20 bouncer-length deliveries in 15 overs in the second innings with Australia trying to save the Test. In comparison, there were only 20 in 31 overs in the first innings.

■ In Bangalore too he tried the bouncer intelligently, bowling 12 in 9 overs in the second innings compared to 20 in 31 overs during the first. Not surprisingly, he stuck to bowling much fuller on the rankturner in Pune, where he ended up with most wickets in Australia's first innings, bowling only 2 and 9 bouncers respectively.

Umesh Yadav has nabbed 17 wickets at 23.41 each in this series, which is the most by him in any series so far in his career. He has been economical than usual too, each over costing him just 3.08.