Umesh Yadav’s batting form could help him play at No.3, jokes Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was in awe of Umesh Yadav’s batting performance in the series against South Africa after the right-hander smashed a 10 ball 31 runs. Since returning back to the Indian team, the 32-year-old bowler has performed consistently with both the bat and the ball. 

Yadav made his comeback into the national team after fellow pacer Jasprit Bumrah suffered an injury prior to the series against South Africa. Since making his comeback, the right-hander has picked up 23 wickets in the four Tests, at an average of 13.65. The 23 wickets also included a match-winning figure of 5-53 in the second innings of the final Test against Bangladesh. The right-hander’s strike rate of 23.1 is the best amongst the bowlers to have played four matches in the Test Championship. 

His bowling is not the only improvement from the past, as Yadav is the holder of the Test record of having the highest strike-rate of 310 beating Fleming’s record of 31* off 11 balls by one delivery. In the innings of 31, he scored 2 sixes off his first two deliveries, before completing the record with a flurry of boundaries in the innings. Kohli joked that the right-hander could be utilised as a No.3 or even as a pinch hitter in the longest format. 

"If say Hardik is not fit as an all-rounder to play overseas, even if you play with five bowlers and just one spinner plays, you know as a batting unit, along with a keeper, and that one spinner either Ash (Ashwin) or Jaddu (Jadeja) ever plays, your batting till seven and then Umesh the way he is batting now, he can probably bat at No.3 as well as a pinch hitter (chuckles)," Kohli told Boria Majumdar on the new show, India Today Inspiration.