Virat Kohli is a Bowler's Captain, Says Pacer Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav is really thankful to captain Virat Kohli for letting him devise his own strategies to get rival batsmen out, the Indian pacer told CricketNext.

"Virat is a bowler's captain. He is someone who would throw the ball at you and tell you to set your own field. He asks me what my plan is or whether I need a particular fielder at a position. He backs your instinct and plans. Only if the plan doesn't work, he would come up and tell that let's try this. For him the bowler gets to execute Plan A and if it doesn't click, then Plan B," Umesh said.

And this liberty given to the bowlers seems to be working as well.Shakib Al Hasan, who played in Bangladesh's first Test match in India last week, said that the spell he faced from Umesh Yadav on the third morning in Hyderabad was the best spell of fast bowling he'd ever faced.

Umesh also talked about that spell, saying, "Yes, I would have termed it a near perfect spell had I got wickets, which unfortunately, I didn't. But if you look at that spell, I was beating Shakib with away going deliveries for the left-hander, which is an inswinger. The pace was good, I hit the right length and I knew Shakib was rattled."

India's current Test bowling attack, featuring Mohammed Shami, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, and Yadav, is turning out to the best India has had in a long time.

"So what exactly did change for me? I believe my experience of using the crease came in handy. Our coach Anil Kumble advised that if I had to take the ball away from the left-hander with fuller deliveries, I need to come wide off the crease and push it through. The wider you go, the better angles you can create for a left-hander, provided you hit the right length. Similarly, when I am bowling to right-handers, I would come closer to the stumps and try to hit a channel where I can make them play more deliveries," the 30-year-old added.