In an interview with Sportskeeda, experienced Indian quick Umesh Yadav stated he is relishing a greater sense of role clarity on his return to the Kolkata Knight Riders camp for the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.
Umesh is the leading fast-bowler in the wickets chart after the first three weeks of the tournament, and he believes the key to his revival has been the clear plans that the KKR think-tank has laid out for him.
“No particular reason behind this good run of form, but according to the role given to me and the clarity behind it, that gives a clear frame of mind over what to do.
“And that is very important because then you know what the captain and coach exactly want from you. The game plan is very clear,”
the pacer said.
Kolkata have been maximising Umesh’s strengths to very good effect. He has historically faced the flak for his death-overs exploits, but KKR have used him predominantly inside the powerplay overs where his new-ball swing and early wickets have been highly impactful.
Umesh has an expensive death-overs economy rate of 10.59 across 74 innings in his Premier League career. But that falls to a very decent 7.54 inside powerplay with 51 wickets to his name. In the IPL 2022, six of Umesh’s 10 wickets for the tournament have come inside the field restriction overs, and he has taken them while conceding only 5.50 runs per over.
There is a chance that this impressive comeback wouldn’t have happened if Umesh had gone ignored at the mega auction in February. Going unsold in the initial part of the two-day bidding war, he eventually found a bid from the KKR table at the base sum of INR 2 crores.
That marked Umesh’s return to the KKR set-up after multiple years spent with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals. Umesh played only two games with the Delhi franchise across two seasons.
The pacer would thus be feeling relieved to have gotten back to KKR, who have entrusted him with regular opportunities and given him the ball in his most suited phase of the innings.
