Umesh is right up there to be featuring in Australia, says Virat Kohli

Indian captain Virat Kohli signalled at the fact that Umesh Yadav’s game-changing match haul of 10 wickets might just earn him a place in the playing XI in Australia.

“I think it was a standout performance in his career and something that he can build on,” Kohli said while speaking at the post-match press conference after India registered an emphatic 10-wicket win over the West Indies in the second Test.

Earlier at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli had lauded Umesh Yadav’s effort and said that he is in the reckoning for a spot in the playing XI in Australia, at the end of this year.

“Four Tests in Australia can be brutal because the (Kookaburra) ball does not do much like in England. So you have to come in and run in all day and hit the right area with pace. But I think from that point of view, Umesh is right up there to be featuring in Australia,” he said.

Yadav had a good Test match as he shouldered the entire burden of the fast bowling department after debutant Shardul Thakur could bowl just 10 deliveries before being injured on the first day. Umesh with his raw pace, ran through the West Indies’ batting order and took six wickets in the first innings. He then followed it up with a four-fer in the second as the West Indies could only manage 127 runs–thus setting an easy 72-run target for India to chase down for a win.

The paceman bowled more than 35 overs across two innings in Hyderabad and did so with accuracy which would keep him in the reckoning for a place in India’s playing XI in the Test series against Australia.

“Because he (Umesh) has got the pace, he has got the fitness levels to run in all day, picks up wickets at crucial times and he gets good bounce as well, so it’s a great headache to have. Obviously, all four guys, when they are touching 140 and when they are taking wickets for you, it is obviously something that any captain would like to have,” Kohli said.

That he was leading the pace attack all by himself without the backup provided by Shardul Thakur is something that impressed Kohli even further.

“I thought with Shardul breaking down very early, to bowl like that in both innings was a great effort on his part. It showed the kind of fitness levels he had, to keep running in and bowl 140 clicks throughout the game and picking wickets and not just completing overs,” Kohli reckoned.

The skipper also felt that the Vidarbha speedster might have come to terms with fast bowling in Test cricket.

“Not many people realise but he is a very, very talented bowler. He can bowl you unplayable deliveries every now and then which we experience in the nets all the time. He will just bowl a ball which you feel you couldn’t have done anything else except getting out. He is gaining more confidence about his own game. He has come a long way. It’s a great sign. Bowling is something that we need to keep as a major strength for us in order to feel that we have a chance to win series when we travel away from home as well. I think these guys (Umesh, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Shami and Ishant Sharma) are taking responsibility well,” Kohli added.