Irregular India outings have hurt Umesh Yadav’s confidence, feels Ashish Nehra

Following a brief resurgence after a disastrous start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) slumped to yet another defeat on Sunday. Virat Kohli’s side lost to Delhi Capitals (DC) by 16 runs to virtually crash out of the tournament. The RCB have two matches left and even if they win both, a maximum of 12 points might not be enough to guarantee them a place in the playoffs. The Capitals, meanwhile, raised their points tally to 16 and earned a place in the playoffs.

One of the RCB’s major disappointments this year has been their bowling and it wasn’t no different on Sunday. A key bowler who has let the RCB down this season is their spearhead Umesh Yadav and bowling coach Ashish Nehra feels not getting to play for India regularly has dented the pacer’s confidence and it was evident in IPL 12. In a performance that fell far from the expectations, Umesh could manage only eight wickets in nine games this IPL at a poor economy rate of over 9.5. Last year, Umesh was one of the RCB’s high performers and had picked 20 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 7.86.

Umesh has had a roller-coaster ride over the last many months

Umesh had bowled well in the home series against the Windies last year but failed to impress in the series Down Under. He hasn’t played an ODI for India since October. The 31-year-old had good exploits in this year’s Ranji Trophy but he was overlooked for India’s World Cup squad. A representative of the Indian team that had played in the 2015 WC, Umesh was not considered even as a standby player.

“Umesh is short on the confidence especially because of the way he has performed in the last 4-5 months. He hasn’t been playing for India. He is not a part of the World Cup, it’s not easy for any cricketer to take that. He is not even in the standby,” The New Indian Express cited reports quoting Nehra as saying after the RCB lost to the DC. Umesh conceded 39 runs in four overs in the match and took the wicket of Prithvi Shaw.

“That definitely must be playing on his mind. He is someone who has always been good. He has plenty of skill and talent. He bowls really well with the new ball, last year that was the mantra of his success. He should look to make a comeback in the Indian team and he knows what he has to do for that.”

The RCB had restricted Delhi’s powerful batting line-up to 151 in 18 overs but leaked 36 runs in the final two to see them setting up a total of 187. Nehra felt the wicket at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground was not one to post such a total. He said the RCB bowlers missed the trick and gave away too many runs. He conceded that chasing a total of 160 above on that wicket was not easy. Nehra was also critical of Navdeep Saini, who otherwise had a good tournament.

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