IPL 2024: Aakash Chopra Reveals Who Will Be Gujarat Titans' Impact Player In The Tournament

Right-arm Fast bowler and Indian Premier League Veteran Umesh Yadav is all set to don the jersey of 2022 IPL champions and runners-up from last year, the Gujarat Titans. The Nagpur-born pacer was bought for a sum of 5.80 Crores and Expert analyst Aakash Chopra thinks that GT might have acquired a true gem during the Mini auction.

The highly experienced bowler is known for his sheer pace and he is someone who has been in the IPL circuit for a long time now. He has played for various franchises like the Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Until last year, he was with KKR who had resigned him during the IPL auction for 2022 and appeared for the Purple and Golden Army for the first time since 2018. It was during his time at KKR when he won the IPL in 2014 before being released 4 years later.

The seasoned campaigner has an experience playing 141 IPL matches since making his debut in 2010 with the Delhi Capitals which was known as the Delhi Daredevils back then. He played for Delhi for 4 years before spending another 4 years at KKR.

Ahead of the 2018 season, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore where he spent 3 seasons, picking up 28 wickets before going back to Kolkata in 2022.

He will bring in a wealth of experience and if you couple his expertise with Ashish Nehra’s guidance, we could be on our way to see the revival of Umesh Yadav in IPL 2024.

“Umesh Yadav Can Be Used As An Impact Player”, Says Aakash Chopra

It is unknown whether he will be the main bowler or he will just warm the bench but Aakash Chopra has claimed that GT might use him as an Impact player.

“They bought Umesh Yadav, who is a great choice. When you play in Gujarat and especially under lights, the ball moves. So you need (Mohammed) Shami’s backup or someone to bowl with him.” – said Aakash Chopra.

“You can play an extra Indian now because of the Impact Player rule. So Umesh Yadav could come as an Impact Player and bowl his overs, although he also bats well. So he might bat as well but both Umesh and Shami have the ability to pick up wickets with the new ball.” – Aakash Chopra concluded.

Gujarat Titans anyway have a long list of bowlers so they have plenty of squad depth and the GT management will just have to find the right combination.

If we talk about the IPL stats of Umesh Yadav then he has played 141 matches, picking up 136 wickets with quite an expensive economy rate of 8.38. On his day, the 36-year-old is capable of tearing oppositions apart but there can be days where he can prove to be very expensive.

His economy rate last season was very alarming as he leaked runs at a rate of 9.95, which is almost 10 per over. So he and Ashish Nehra will have to find a way to lower his economy rate or else Gujarat might end up regretting their decision of splashing almost 6 crores for him.

Gujarat Titans Full Squad For IPL 2024: David Miller, Shubman Gill (c), Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Robin Minz.