Umesh Yadav confident of being the third pacer in the ODI setup

It has been eight years since Umesh Yadav made his international debut. This well-built pacer grabbed everyone’s attention with his sheer pace early in his career. But, he was known to be highly inconsistent and struggled to replicate his domestic success in international cricket. But, after these eight long years, he is a much more matured bowler now and has been waiting in the ranks for a long time to get consistent opportunities.

On the back of the some terrific IPL performances, he was picked across the formats for the recently concluded England tour. Although he is a regular member in the Test side, opportunities in white-ball cricket seldom come his way. In an interview with the ESPN Cricinfo, the pacer said that not getting games regularly is one of the reasons for his inconsistency.

I have got to play after long gaps, says Umesh Yadav

When he was questioned if he could be the third seamer in the limited-overs set-up, Umesh replied in the affirmative. However, he noted that it is a little bit difficult because of the lack of chances. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are currently the first-choice pacers for the limited-overs games.

“I think it is a bit difficult at this time, because of how I have got my chances. I have got to play after long gaps. And in those chances, I think I may not be performing up to the expectations people have of me,” Yadav explained.

“If I play an ODI after two months, then there is a six-month gap, and then I get to play one more ODI, obviously, there is difficulty in claiming a spot. I feel I still have good chances, but I need to do well to seal that place,” he cited an example. Since the start of 2017, India played 44 ODIs thus far in which the Nagpur pacer got to feature in just 11 ODIs.

“I am confident that I will do well and can be the third fast bowler in the ODI team,” the 30-year-old concluded.