Sanjay Bangar praises Umesh Yadav’s improved bowling skill

Umesh Yadav’s talent has never been in doubt, but his inconsistent approach has been the main reason for his failure to take wickets regularly. But, in this long stretch of the home season, Yadav bowled with panache on spin-friendly wickets. That may not have resulted in a lot of wickets, though, it forced the batsmen to restrict the free-flowing run-scoring approach. 

Bangar, in the post-match press conference, said, "Ever since the Delhi Test match against South Africa, we have seen him (Umesh) giving the breakthroughs that the team requires. So I think the reason for that many Test victories is not only the contribution of the spinners but the small contributions that the fast bowlers have made.

"That's why someone like Umesh stands out because I believe that he's the most improved bowler in the last season and a half," he added.

"All our three seamers were able to get the reverse swing. But Umesh (stood out) with his pace and the lengths that he bowled. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) can bowl the conventional swing but Umesh can swing the ball both ways. Again Ishant (Sharma) bowls slightly back of a length but Umesh's length allows him to swing the ball with the new ball and also with the old ball. He's worked a lot on his wrist positions and balance at the crease."

In the 1-2 home series loss to England in late 2012, Indians’ diminishing ability against spin came to the fore, where Moeen Ali picked up 19 wickets. Bangar said that, this time around, the use of a narrow batting stance has helped the Indian batsmen to improve their play against spin.

"A lot of batsmen have gone back to narrower stance purely because mobility is a crucial aspect in batsmanship. You need to be ready to adjust to the variations of the pitch including quicker pitches and against the bouncers. That is a crucial factor," he said.

"Using the feet has always been our strength and going over the top and not being afraid lofting the spinners. We are always sending the message to spinners that we are coming at you and that has always been the strength of Indian batsmanship, over a number of years. All batsman have been able to do that and we have started getting results," he added.

"There was a phase a lot was made 2014, Moeen Ali got six wickets, a lot of questions were raised if Indians are not as good against spinners as they were in the earlier period, I don't believe in that. There has been a lot of improvement in that aspect of batsmanship as well."