Umesh Yadav has been doing wonders ever since he returned to the Test squad in the South Africa series at home. He recently revealed that he has made some changes to his grip to deliver out-swingers more consistently and flawlessly. He again said that he constantly looks at different ways to trouble batsmen, including coming wide off the crease rather than bowling closer to stumps.
“When you start bowling from the same spot, you tend to become predictable. The batsman knows that this is a bowler who will hit one particular length and they can manage. When you use crease, you start using angles,” he said.
“From closer to stumps, the ball comes straight and then moves so the batsman is able to leave the ball. But if delivered from wide off crease, it comes in with the angle and then might straighten or even move away. That is a bigger challenge as impact is on the stumps. So as a fast bowler, if you don’t use the crease, you cant create doubts in a batsman’s minds that how much will the ball swing and they can commit mistakes,” he shared.
He was asked how important it is for him to bowl an inswinger, he replied that he wouldn’t risk losing his natural outswinger while trying something new.
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“To develop a new skill needs hard work but there is a flip side to it. While developing a new skill, there is a possibility of you losing something that comes naturally to you. I have seen many bowlers lose their stock outswing delivery trying to develop inswing,” he told.
“So I believe that if I am getting my out-swingers right, I should keep working on it. In the process, if I can perfect the delivery that straightens after pitching, nothing like it. So one needs to put in some thought before one does it,” he expressed.
Umesh Yadav also spoke about India’s pace bowlers’ quality. He further added that it’s good to see batsmen struggle with pace.
“It’s accuracy and consistency along with 140-plus pace that creates trouble for batsmen. I believe the amount of swing our unit got along with the hard lengths that we hit, has made all the difference as batsmen are thinking how to counter this,” he added.
“Look the good batsmen are never scared. But yes, if you know some technical weakness and attack that area, you can put him in a spot. That’s a satisfaction, if you can play with the mind of a quality batsman, seeing him struggle,” he further explained.
He even spoke about their maiden day-night Test as well.
“It’s a mixed feeling. We enjoyed as ball did a lot but then some issues like sighting for batsmen and all need to be factored. Whether we should play more depends on BCCI,” Umesh Yadav concluded.
