Holding back Umesh Yadav was part of the plan, reveals Sanjay Bangar

Team India assistant coach Sanjay Bangar was very impressed with the way things turned out for the hosts on the opening day of the first Test against Australia. Australia were restricted to 256/9 by the end of the day’s play. Bangar did hint that they expected the visitors to bundle out in the final session. As per the quotes in News18, the most startling revelation that Sanjay Bangar made after the game today was about Umesh Yadav. The former cricketer revealed that holding back Umesh Yadav was a well-thought plan. Many people were surprised to see Umesh Yadav being handed the ball in the 28th over of the game.

However, the Vidarbha pacer was the most effective bowler for India on the day and finished with top notch figures of 4/32. Explaining the plan, Bangar stated that Umesh has the ability to get reverse swing with the old ball. This was precisely why he bowled when the ball got old. He added that Ishant Sharma, the other pacer in the lineup, has been known to go in hard against the left-handers with the new ball. Hence, he got the first shot at the Aussie openers.

“Umesh has been to known to bowl well with the old ball. Even in the series against England, you could see he got a lot of reverse swing. We had held him back, expecting that the ball would reverse-swing pretty early in the innings. It was the precise plan to hold him back as there were two left-handers at the top of the order,” Sanjay Bangar quoted.

“It’s all part of the plan, wherein you know the instinct or strength that each individual possesses. We know that Ishant (Sharma) has troubled a number of left-handers from the Australian team over the years with his pace and bounce. We wanted to exploit him and give him the first go against left-handers,” Bangar added further.

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He credited Virat Kohli for coming up with the plan that helped keep Umesh fresh for longer spells. Not only did he bowl well in the opening spell, but also towards the fag end of the day. The assistant coach looked mighty pleased with the end result of the same. He noted that Umesh was informed about the plan too.

“Definitely. It’s part of the communication and that is probably one of the stronger points of this current Indian team. We always knew about the capabilities of Umesh, who can pitch the ball slightly fuller with reverse swing coming very early into the game which we were expecting to happen. That was why he was held back. It was smart thinking by Virat. It helped him remain fresh throughout the day, which made him very incisive in his second and third spells as well,” said the Assistant coach.

He also lauded the batting of Mitchell Starc, who scored a fighting fifty on the day. Bangar cited that they were hoping to bundle out the visitors under 230 run mark. He stressed on the fact that the wicket was good and the batsmen who applied themselves got results. “If you see, at the end of the day the score is still 256/9 and that is a lot of runs. The batsmen who applied themselves have shown that runs can be scored on this track.

“It’s not that there was variable bounce. As Team India we never complain of any pitch when we go abroad, and its just a day 1 of a Test match. And we are hopeful of, by where it (Test) stands, the next four days of cricket,” quoted the former Indian cricketer.

“Obviously, we would have been very happy had we batted in the evening. But we have seen in the past when our lower order has contributed a lot. So, all credit to (Mitchell) Starc because he came out and backed himself and played those shots. Because of that partnership they were able to end the day in a good position. I think we were expecting them to be bowled out around 230 or less than that. But they applied themselves,” concluded Sanjay Bangar.