Myself and Shami are senior bowlers and need to take more responsibility: Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav, the fast bowler of the Indian team, has cleared that he is fit enough to be part of the team in all the three formats. He admitted though that he likes the traditional format of the game the most. The bowler was included in the playing XI in the fourth game of the series against Australia after winning in Indore. The hosts rested their lead bowlers and decided to test their bench strength for the dead rubber. However, Yadav felt that he and Mohammed Shami are senior bowlers and need to take more responsibility.

The fifth and final match of the ODI series will be played in Nagpur at VCA Stadium. Australia played their best cricket in Bengaluru and hit one back at the Men in Blue by beating them in a high-scoring encounter. Both teams would love to win and end the series on a high and carry the momentum into the 3-match T20 International series which will follow.

We have to take the responsibility at the death

Umesh Yadav felt that he and Mohammed Shami should have bowled better at the death and agreed that they conceded 15-20 runs more in the last game. It’s good (atmosphere is dressing room). We know we lost the game but batsmen put in a good effort. We gave 15-20 runs extra and we have to control that. Mohammed Shami and me played after a long time. But, we are senior bowlers and have to take responsibility. We have to bowl whatever the team needs from us. There is a little bit like good balls and bad balls but I think everything went well. As fast bowlers, Shami and me have to take more responsibility at death overs otherwise everything is okay,” Umesh said in the pre-match press conference ahead of the final match of the series.

The 29-year-old also revealed his favourite format as he took the questions on him being the reserve bowler in ODIs for India. “I think ODIs will continue to be played more than Tests and I like Test cricket because you have time. I like Test because you have situations and match analysis and I like those challenges. Challenges like picking wickets on slow wickets as a fast bowler. These things bring more confidence in you and you become accurate because you know how to bowl on this wicket and focus more on bowling there. I think I am more than happy to play Test cricket. In ODIs, you have less time due to format. It’s good if you play both ODIs and Test but I think it’s good for me to play cricket in any format. In my age I would love to play all formats and it’s good for me. I would love to play all formats,” he added.

Yadav also spoke about the recovery period for the fast bowlers after injury and praised BCCI for distributing the load of the bowlers very well. “It is very good for fast bowlers. If you play continuous Test cricket, it’s lots of load for the fast bowlers because you play in sub-continent and there’s no pace and bounce in wickets. You have to put in 110 percent. It is hard for us to comeback in ODIs with same intensity and it’s difficult. It’s better to get some rest to recover small niggles. I appreciate this concept as we get rest,” Umesh signed off.