I am personally in a very good head space after IPL, says Umesh Yadav

06/09/2018

Umesh Yadav, who had an impressive IPL season with RCB, insisted that he has been in a very good head space after the IPL and is working hard to get ready for the series ahead. He revealed that he has been doing ‘single stump training’ on the advice of Ashish Nehra, who was his bowling coach in RCB.

This year's IPL has been a standout one for Yadav, who got 20 wickets from 14 games and worked up to get scorching pace in some of his spells. Virat Kohli, who has been captain of Umesh Yadav in the national side, was his captain in IPL too this around. Yadav reflected on the freedom that Kohli has given him which helped him perform well for the team.

"Any performer is happy when he successfully executes his plans. I am really happy with my performance in the IPL. It was unfortunate that we could not make it to the play-offs but it was one of my best IPL seasons. Virat had one clear instruction for me. Go for the kill. He told me 'get me the wickets and do not bother about getting hit'. I did as my skipper told me," Umesh Yadav told PTI.

Yadav, who had the best outing of his IPL career this year, revealed that he has been preparing for the gruelling international season ahead with focus on "single stump training" on the advice of Nehra, who was his bowling coach in his stint with RCB.

"We all know the depth of Ashish Nehra's (RCB bowling coach) knowledge when it comes to fast bowling. During this year's IPL, I was able to spend quality time with Ashish paaji. He has given me a lot of technical suggestions during the course of the tournament. Even during IPL, I would pick his brains about the red ball season ahead," Umesh Yadav said.

"Ashish paaji told me that during the spare time after IPL, I should do single stump bowling to increase my accuracy and consistency. I was told to practice' single wicket bowling' with both SG Test and Dukes keeping in mind the season ahead. His (Nehra) tip is to put one off-stump and maintain the channel," the 30-year-old said.

Nehra, who retired from all forms of cricket in late 2017, has always been an advocate of single stump bowling throughout his playing career. He would do his single wicket training at the Siri Fort or Sonnet Club nets at Sri Venkateswara College in Delhi. Yadav looked to have cracked the mystery of consistency and regarded ‘uncluttered mind’ as the key for the same.

"Since outswinger is my stock delivery, I am trying to land it as close as possible to the off-stump. Nehra tells me that the length that any pacer has to hit with the new ball is same for all kind of tracks (India or foreign). The key to consistency is uncluttered mind. The moment you try too many things, you can mess up. The single stump means that I am only bowling one channel," said Yadav, who had 41 wickets from the last 16 Tests at home.

Yadav has been primarily an outswing bowler, however, he has included inswing delivery in his arsenal in the recent past. He now often bowls the incoming deliveries but he wants to keep it as a surprise weapon.

"I have realised one thing. Even if you are not consistently bowling inswingers but if you can straighten the deliveries, nothing like it. If I can get the deliveries to straighten after pitching, it can even trouble the best of batsmen."

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are now ahead in the pecking order for the first team spots, but Yadav is not unduly perturbed as he calls it a ‘headache of the team management’.

"We are five pacers – Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), (Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Shami, Ishant (Sharma) and myself. So it's a happy headache for the team management -- the coach and the captain to pick the best amongst us. I am personally in a very good head space after IPL. My job is to be ready and captain and the head coach have their job,” he concluded.

I am personally in a very good head space after IPL, says Umesh Yadav

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