“When I gave away 2 boundaries...” - Umesh Yadav breaks silence on Shubman Gill's message during last over vs MI

Gujarat Titans (GT) fast bowler Umesh Yadav opened up about what advice he got from head coach Ashish Nehra ahead of the last over against Mumbai Indians (MI). He said that the former India pacer came to him and told him he would be bowling the last over.

Umesh Yadav was the hero for Gujarat Titans in the match against Mumbai Indians in the 5th match of the Indian Premier League. The fast bowler defended the target for his team in the last over and made sure that Shubman Gill-led side started the tournament on high.

In the chase of 169 runs, Mumbai Indians were cruising with Rohit Sharma (43) and Dewald Brevis (46) going great guns. However, after that duo got out, Gujarat Titans came back in the game as they picked a few more wickets and put Mumbai Indians under pressure.

However, they still had an uphill task ahead of them as they needed to defend 19 runs in the last over with Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya batting. Skipper Shubman Gill handed the responsibility to veteran pacer Umesh Yadav to bowl the last over of the match.

Umesh Yadav didn’t have a great start to the over as Hardik Pandya hit him for a six on the first ball. If this was not enough, he then got hit for a boundary on the second ball. It seemed that Mumbai Indians would go to the easy win, especially with the way Hardik was batting.

However, Umesh Yadav made a solid comeback on the third ball as he bowled a short delivery and sent Hardik Pandya packing. If this was not enough, he also went on to remove Gerald Coetzee and Piyush Chawla in the same over and won his team the game.

One of the major masterminds behind the win of Gujarat Titans was head coach Ashish Nehra. He was actively involved in the game as he was seen talking to his bowlers. He also gave inputs to Umesh Yadav and Spencer Johnson and that paid off well.

Shubman came to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, you are doing well’ – Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav opened up about the inputs he got from the skipper and head coach. He revealed Ashish Nehra expressed confidence in him. Before revealing how Shubman Gill told him to take it easy after he was hit for 10 runs on two balls. He stated:

“Actually, I was standing silently when Ashu pa said ‘You bowl the last over’. When I gave away two boundaries, Shubman came to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, you are doing well’. When the captain and support staff show belief in you, tough matches also seem easy and that works for me.”

Gujarat Titans will be next seen in action when they take on Chennai Super Kings on 26th March at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Shubman Gill started his captaincy era on high and now would be keen to continue making the same impact in the ongoing tournament.