Umesh Yadav reveals Ashish Nehra’s contribution in his growth

Umesh notched 20 wickets for 14 matches in this season's IPL.

Umesh Yadav had an impressive stint with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL). Albeit his team couldn’t qualify for the playoffs, Umesh didn’t flatter to deceive and notched 20 wickets from 14 matches and was the franchise’s leading wicket-taker. RCB’s bowling was found wanting, but Umesh hardly missed his mark.

The 30-year old has been a regular fixture in the Indian Test team but struggled to stake his claim in the limited overs team. Nevertheless, following his stupendous show in the T20 tournament, the selectors drafted him into the T20I squad for India’s tour of England next month. Recently, the pacer thanked Ashish Nehra, the bowling coach of RCB, for his priceless tips that have helped Umesh to a great extent.

Umesh’s single-stump theory

“Ashish paaji told me that during the spare time after IPL, I should do single stump bowling to increase my accuracy and consistency. I was told to practise ‘single wicket bowling’ with both SG Test and Dukes keeping in mind the season ahead. His (Nehra) tip is to put one off-stump and maintain the channel,” Yadav was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.

Umesh has been in the scheme of India’s setup for a very long period. He was erratic and lacked consistency. He refurbished his skills and is an improved version of his previous self. The bowler has focused on the technical aspects of his bowling and closely studied his areas of improvement in his action in order for him to play all three formats for the national team.

“Since outswinger is my stock delivery, I am trying to land it as close as possible to the off-stump. Nehra tells me that the length that any pacer has to hit with the new ball is same for all kind of tracks. The key to consistency is uncluttered mind. The moment you try too many things, you can mess up. The single stump means that I am only bowling one channel,” Umesh added.

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