Umesh Yadav once again showed his worth by grabbing his maiden 10-wicket haul in Test cricket (6-88 and 4-45) to hand West Indies a 10-wicket defeat in the second Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
Skipper Kohli with his pace ace Yadav
Too much braking can cause jerks. It can be annoying too. For Umesh Yadav, it could have been a similar experience, having featured in just four Test matches out of the 11 that Team India played this year. Umesh, who was India's most consistent bowler in the last home season, was suddenly not the preferred choice in the XI when India toured South Africa and England. He played only one (Edgbaston) out of the eight overseas Tests this year.
It could have been nightmarish, but Umesh did not let that affect him. He once again showed his worth by grabbing his maiden 10-wicket haul in Test cricket (6-88 and 4-45) to hand West Indies a 10-wicket defeat in the second Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here yesterday. India managed to take a slender lead of 56 runs in response to West Indies' 311. Umesh and Ravindra Jadeja (3-12) then bowled the visitors out for 127. A 72-run target was easily achieved by Prithvi Shaw and KL Rahul (33 each). The thumping win helped India blank Jason Holder's men 2-0 and register their 10th successive Test series win on home soil.
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On an unhelpful pitch, Umesh got the ball to do the talking and was twice on a hat-trick. With the all-important Australia Test tour coming up in December, will Umesh's 10-wicket feat [the only Indian fast bowler after Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath to achieve this on home soil] guarantee him a place in the XI when regulars Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar return?
India skipper Virat Kohli said that Umesh is in the mix: "Four Tests in Australia can be brutal. You have to come in and run in all day and hit the right areas with pace. I think from that point of view, Umesh is right up there to be featuring in Australia because he's got the pace, he has the fitness levels to run in all day, picks up wickets at crucial times and gets good bounce as well."
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