Was The Highest Wicket-Taker In 2015 World Cup And Suddenly Everything Changed: Umesh Yadav On His White-Ball Cricket Downfall

Indian pacer Umesh Yadav opened up on his downfall in white-ball cricket after the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Umesh was a regular member of India’s ODI squad since he made his debut in the format in 2010.

In the 2015 World Cup, Umesh was India’s leading wicket-taker with 18 scalps in eight matches at 17.83 and was behind Trent Boult (22) and Mitchell Starc (22) in overall bowlers with most wickets in the tournament.

Umesh Yadav’s sidelined from India’s white-ball cricket plans

After India discovered their new bowling pair in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with Mohammed Shami as the third-choice pacer in early 2016, Umesh played just 23 ODI matches and six T20Is for India in the period of 2016-18.

Umesh was part of India’s 2017 Champions Trophy squad but didn’t play the final against Pakistan. He was also dropped from the 2019 World Cup squad with his last ODI appearance was made against West Indies on October 24, 2018, in Visakhapatnam.

People suddenly started labelling me that ‘he is not a white-ball bowler: Umesh Yadav

The 34-year-old opened up on his snub from India’s white-ball teams post 2015 World Cup. Umesh also mentioned his struggle in the early days with his father working in coal mines.

“My real journey in white-ball cricket started after 2014. I felt bad when I faced this downfall in my career when I was in and out of India’s white-ball team. People suddenly started labelling me that ‘he is not a white-ball bowler”.

“And when that started happening, I felt like how can things change so suddenly. At one point in my career, I was the highest wicket-taker (for India) in the 2015 World Cup and then suddenly everything changed,” Umesh said in a video uploaded on KKR’s official YouTube channel. 

“From where I belong, there will be very few boys who believe that they could play for India. Playing and dreaming about cricket was expensive for them. Kit, bat, pad, shoes, etc. you just can’t do it because you live in coal mines, your father goes to coal mines and does hard work. At that time I had never thought I would play for India as it was beyond my imagination,” he added. 

Umesh returned to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team in IPL 2022 and the Vidarbha pacer has been impressive with his guile with the new ball. The right-arm pacer has snapped eight wickets in three games, five of them were picked in powerplay overs, and is also currently leading the wicket-taker charts of IPL 2022.

Also Read: KKR vs PBKS: “Umesh Yadav Has Been Handled By Shreyas Iyer Really Well” – Ravi Shastri