When Tim Southee was making headlines in competitive cricket as a 19-year-old in 2008, Umesh Yadav started thinking about making a career in the game. After almost a decade and a half, Southee has taken 366 international wickets more than Umesh, while his age is one year less than the Indian bowler. Southee, however, is so impressed with his Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate's bowling in IPL 15 that he feels the fast bowler will once again represent Team India in the shortest format. Umesh played his last T20 International match more than 3 years ago.
Tim Southee said, 'I am a fan of Umesh. He is an excellent bowler. I am fortunate that I got to share the new ball with him on a few occasions when we both played for Royal Challengers Bangalore. . If he continues to perform like this, then I don't see any reason why he shouldn't do well in T20 cricket for India.
The economy is also great
34-year-old Umesh Yadav, performing brilliantly for Knight Riders in the current season (IPL 2022), has so far taken 10 wickets in 5 matches and during this period gave runs at an economy rate of 6.60. He has bowled the most 62 dot balls so far. Umesh has dismissed veteran batsmen like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the powerplay. In the auction, KKR bought him for Rs 2 crore. Southee credited Umesh's stellar performance to the Knight Riders think tank. In the last season, he did not get a chance to play in a single match.
The team's bowling is very strong
He said that the way Knight Riders used it is fantastic. Head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Shreyas Iyer have used it to attack with the new ball. He took advantage of his strong side with the new ball and tried to take wickets by getting him back in the middle overs. Southee said that the Knight Riders team has the upper hand in the bowling department with Australia's top fast bowler Pat Cummins leading the fast bowling attack, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakraborty taking over the spin department.
Southee also praised young fast bowlers, Rasik Salam and Ashok Sharma. 22-year-old fast bowler Rasik from Kashmir made his debut for Knight Riders against his former team Mumbai Indians. He spent just 18 runs in 3 overs against the aggressive opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, but he did not get any wicket. Southee said that Rasik, who played his first match a few days ago, is a very skilled bowler and can swing the ball both ways.
