Indian fast bowler Umesh Yadav has lamented the unfavourable pitch in Chennai as the Indians bowlers toiled hard for the second day in a row.
Umesh and co. started brightly and reduced England to 321 for 7 after England resumed the day on 284 for 4. However, the hosts failed to get rid of the English lower-order as the visitors went on to score 477. Debutant Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid scored half-centuries each before Jake Ball and Stuart Broad also chipped in with useful knocks to help their team post a mammoth total.
Speaking after the day’s play, Umesh said:“I think it is very difficult to bowl on this track because ball is not turning that much. It is a little bit different. They got some quick runs but I think the ball is not turning a lot. That is the problem, we could not get wickets and lost momentum.”
In reply, the Indian openers made a solid start and shared an unbeaten partnership of 60 runs by the close of the day.
England lost the Mumbai Test by an innings even after posting 400 runs in their first innings and when Yadav was asked whether a result is possible in Chennai, he said: “There are three more days. Let’s see how the wicket behaves. If it turns after the third day, I think there will still be some interest left in the game.”
Meanwhile, when the Indian pacer was asked why the bowlers did not bowl short to Moeen Ali earlier, he said:“This plan is already there. On Friday, the fast bowlers didn’t bowl that much. Today, we made a plan that we will bowl short to Moeen and make sure he plays all the balls. We wanted to bowl to his left shoulder and after that we got the momentum as he tried to pull some balls.”
Yadav also said he enjoys bowling with senior pacer Ishant Sharma. The pace spearhead is playing his first Test in the series and has already made an impact by taking two crucial wickets in the first innings.
“I think he is a very senior bowler. He has a lot of experience. Whenever we are thinking about the wickets or thinking how to get wickets on these kinds of tracks so Ishant and I keep talking to him, he has a lot of experience playing 70-plus Test matches,” said Umesh.
“I think it is a very positive sign. He just came back and he’s bowling very easily. It just helps a lot, whenever your senior bowler is bowling with you. You get that confidence. And he can gauge the nature of the pitch very quickly, what we have to do on this wicket. If he bowls just two balls, then he will know if there will be reverse on this wicket,” he added.
Meanwhile, the right-arm pacer said not having a specialist bowling coach is not a major concern since the team can learn a lot from the experience of Anil Kumble and Sanjay Bangar.
He said:“Actually, I think at this stage it doesn’t matter that much but still we need coaches, who can help us during the bad times or bad sessions. Anil-bhai and Sanjay Bangar are there. They know about bowling.
“Sanjay Bangar was a medium-pacer, he bowled a lot in his time. He gives idea on how to bowl on these type of wickets as he has played a lot of first-class matches. Whenever we are not doing well, we just talk to Anil-bhai or Sanjay-bhai, they can help us any time or in any situation,” he concluded.