India pacer Umesh Yadav is 'battle ready' for the tour of England after outstanding IPL campaign

Sudhir Gupta 13:45 11/06/2018
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  • Umesh Yadav is feeling extremely good about his bowling currently.

    With a long and gruelling tour of England coming up, India’s Umesh Yadav is feeling extremely good about his bowling after a spirited showing in this year’s IPL.

    The pacer bowled some absolutely ripping spells in the premier T20 competition and picked up 20 wickets in 14 matches for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

    While crediting RCB bowling coach Ashish Nehra for his successful IPL, Umesh has also thanked skipper Virat Kohli for giving him the freedom to go for the kill.

    “Any performer is happy when he successfully executes his plans. I am really happy with my performance in the IPL. It was unfortunate that we could not make it to the play-offs but it was one of my best IPL seasons,” he said in an interview with the Press Trust of India.

    “Virat had one clear instruction for me. Go for the kill. He told me ‘get me the wickets and do not bother about getting hit’. I did as my skipper told me,”

    With the IPL now over, all of the attention will switch to the tour of England where India are slated to play five Tests against the hosts.

    With Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami all jostling for positions in India’s pace battery for the series along with Yadav, Kohli is bound to have some selection headaches.

    Yadav is one of the many pace options at the disposal of Kohli.

    Yadav is one of the many pace options at the disposal of Kohli.

    However, the 30-year-old right-arm quick is only focusing on doing his job if called upon by the Indian skipper.

    “We are five pacers – Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar), Bumrah, Shami, Ishant and myself. So it’s a happy headache for the team management – the coach and the captain to pick the best amongst us. I am personally in a very good head space after IPL. My job is to be ready and captain and the head coach have their job,” Yadav said.

    “We are a close-knit group and even when Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) or Jassi (Bumrah) do well, I am proud of their achievements. My job is to be battle ready for the season ahead and I am doing just that,” he added.

    India’s tour of England will start on July 3 with the first of the three T20Is. That will be followed by a three-match ODI series before the attention shifts to the Tests which conclude on September 11.

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