The Nagpur-born pacer Umesh Yadav has time and again proved his prowess with the ball and the testament to this is his roaring form for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the ongoing 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
KKR's star speedster after missing the IPL 2021 made a resounding comeback to make his presence feel in IPL 2022. In a match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday (April 1), Yadav achieved a rare feat to feature himself in the Zaheer Khan's club. On the last ball of the opening over, Yadav removed PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal to become the fourth highest wicket-taker in the powerplay of IPL. In total he has accumulated 50 wickets in the powerplay as he is only behind Sandeep Sharma (53), Zaheer Khan (52) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (52).
Most wickets in the powerplay in IPL:
53 - Sandeep Sharma
52 - Zaheer Khan
52 - Bhuvneshwar Kumar
50 - Umesh Yadav
44 - Dhawal Kulkarni
44 - Ishant Sharma
So far in powerplays, where the batters focus purely on hitting rather than protecting their wickets, he has bowled mostly on good-length areas and successfully accomplished the team management’s demands. It would not have been possible if the KKR did not give him the chance straight away.
Yadav has been significantly impressive playing against Punjab Kings as has won ten Man of the Match awards in IPL and among them six have come against PBKS.
Yadav also snared the wicket of IPL 2022's most expensive overseas player Liam Livingstone (Rs 11.5 crore) for the score of 19. He followed it up with the scalps of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar to return with a magical spell of 4/23.
Yadav continued his dream run with a four-wicket haul before Andre Russell returned to his brutal best to fire Kolkata Knight Riders to an easy six-wicket win over Punjab Kings.
Umesh (4/23), coming into the season with just two games over two IPL seasons and going unsold initially at the auction, produced career-best T20 figures to help KKR dismiss Punjab for a below par 137 in 18.2 overs.
Earlier, in the IPL opener match against RCB, Umesh bowled a similar spell where he got opener Anuj Rawat and Virat Kohli nick behind the stumps with short of length and back of length deliveries respectively to reduce them to 17/3 at one stage which delayed their chase. The Vidarbha pacer finished his spell with 2/16 from four overs.
A fantastically skilled bowler with a skiddy bouncer and several brilliant variations, did not play a single match for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year. He, as a limited-overs specialist, was viewed with suspicion by many. As a result, the 34-year-old went unsold twice at IPL 2022 mega auction before Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), his former franchise, gave him a contract at his base price of Rs 2 crore.
