There are times when everything is good but your mind is distracted: Umesh Yadav reflects on tough times

Tags: India, Umesh Yadav

Published on: Aug 21, 2019

Having clinched the ODI series with ease, India will take on hosts West Indies in the first Test at Antigua, starting Thursday. Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari all got runs with the bat while Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav all were among the wickets in the warm-up match.

Despite his impressive showing with the ball in the game against West Indies A, where he claimed three wickets in the first innings, Umesh is not likely to feature in the starting eleven as Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the preferred choices for now. Umesh's inconsistency hasn't helped his cause.

In spite of not being a constant presence in the playing eleven, opines that the healthy competition in the team for the fast bowling slots as it keeps everyone on the hooks. The contest for the slots has become even more intense with Jasprit Bumrah leapfrogging others to claim the first spot for the fast bowlers.

"When you know that you're going to be playing back-to-back Test matches, you also need that kind of a bench-strength. All the fast bowlers know there is a good competition and that everyone is going to get an opportunity. Whoever does well, will get to play more. If we think in that manner, it's good for us because we will try to improve ourselves," Umesh was quoted as telling reporters, according to a NDTV report.

Umesh has been part of Indian Test squads constantly over the last half decade, however his appearances in the playing eleven have been on the wane. He did not have much to do even during India's historic series win Down Under.

In that sense, Umesh admitted that he is happy with the way things panned out for him in the first innings of the warm-up. "I bowled the kind of deliveries I wanted to. I focused on the areas that I wanted to bowl, and I managed to bowl there," he further said in the report.

The fast bowler revealed that after a poor IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore, he went back to his coach Subrata Banerjee at the Vidarbha academy to review his bowling. "I gave myself some time to work on my errors and get my rhythm back," he revealed.

"There are times when everything is going good but your mind is distracted thinking that things are not going the way you want it to be going. To get away and think, that space of mind is important. I did the same. I went home, spoke to my coach, cleared my thoughts and got clarity," Yadav added.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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