Umesh Yadav’s last and only T20I appearance till date came way back in 2012. And it is safe to say that he has fallen down the pecking order in the 50-over format too. Despite impressing in Tests, he was deemed surplus to requirements in the shortest formats.

And it looks like Yadav is desperate to change his image. He has sent out a big statement with his sizzling performances in the first two games of the ongoing Indian Premier League. In the season-opener against Kolkata Knight Riders, he regularly clocked over 140 kmph and beat batsmen for pace. It was his wicket of the dangerous Sunil Narine that helped Royal Challengers Bangalore pull things back.

He continued his red-hot form on Friday against Kings XI Punjab too. On a Chinnaswamy pitch, he rocked the visitors inside an over. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal gave the visitors a good start before Yadav came to bowl his second over.

He sent back Mayank Agarwal and Aaron Finch off the first two deliveries to put the pressure right back. While Yuvraj Singh averted a hat-trick, Umesh wasn’t done yet. On the final delivery, he dismissed the veteran batsman to finish the over with 3 wickets. The over put the hosts firmly on top as Kings XI failed to recover from it. Royal Challengers went on to bowl the visitors out for a modest 155. In reply, they rode AB de Villiers’ fifty to ace a pulsating chase and reach home in the final over.

Yadav bagged the Man of the Match award for his sizzling performance. He has now taken six three-wicket hauls against Kings XI in the IPL. Yadav has picked up 13 wickets in his last four outings at Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Meanwhile, the Man of the Match award helped him enter the record books. he now has seven man of the match awards in the IPL. These are the most number of player of the match awards for a specialist pacer. Ashish Nehra is second in the list with six such awards in the IPL.