One of the unsung heroes of the winning grand home season of Indian cricket, Umesh Yadav, had slowly been sidelined with the rise of Bhuvi and Bumrah in all formats.
Probably, one of the best fast bowlers in the country was made to warm the benches in the juicy conditions of South Africa. The likes of Shami, Ishant, Bhuvi and Bumrah, all were given the nod ahead of Umesh.
It might have been unfair for the Vidarbha speedster, as he did all the yards, sometimes even on a dead surface, for captain Kohli, at home.
However, it is said that Virat Kohli, this time in the auctions handpicked all the players in his RCB team.
Known for his affinity towards fast bowlers, VK wanted the KKR bowling line up of Woakes, de Grandhomme, Coulter-Nile and Umesh.
That said, Umesh Yadav, in the first two games of the tournament, terrorised the opponents with his raw pace. Against the match against Kings XI Punjab, Umesh dismissed the likes of man in red-hot form, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch and Yuvraj Sigh, all in a single over.
Photo by: Faheem Hussain / IPL/ SPORTZPICS
The said event occurred when Umesh was asked to stem the flow of runs in the fourth over. His game-changing first over dismissed free flowing Mayank Aggarwal who nicked one to Quinton de Kock who caught a blinder diving to his wrong side.
He then removed Aaron Finch out of the equation by catching him in front of the wicket, welcoming him to India. After a glorious boundary hit by Yuvraj Singh, Umesh cleaned his middle stump out of the picture.