Picking Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman’s wickets gave me confidence, recalls Umesh Yadav

A year before making his ODI debut, Vidarbha’s Umesh Yadav already made rounds on the domestic circuit, thanks to his pace and accuracy. However, his biggest test before his Indian debut was in the 2009 Duleep Trophy encounter between Central Zone and South Zone. A day before the encounter, the pacer was given the news that he had to bowl against the duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. 

The duo had already established themselves in the Indian lineup under Sourav Ganguly. So when the pacer picked up both their wickets, he recalled the confidence that the two wickets gave him. 

“I took a 5-wicket haul for South Zone and I got the big wickets of Dravid and Laxman. That gave me immense confidence,” the right-arm pacer said in an episode of Cricbuzz’s Youtube chat show Spicy Pitch.

He also revealed how before the clash, he was scared of the two Indian batsmen, who formed the crux of South India’s batting lineup. Alongside that, the Vidarbha pacer also picked up the wickets of Arjun Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Laxmipathy Balaji. In the second innings too, he picked up a wicket, rounding his match figures to 6/164. 

“When I went to play the Duleep Trophy match and got to know the team I would be playing against and I would be bowling against the likes of (Rahul) Dravid and (VVS) Laxman - I was terrified. I had never imagined that I would bowl such a fine spell under such a pressure situation,” he concluded.

Having played under the captaincy of both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, Umesh had quite a witty reply up his sleeve when asked to pick one between the two. 

“Difficult hai Bhai, aisa question mat puchho (laughs),” Umesh said.