Umesh Yadav talks about how playing for India was a dream come true

Umesh Yadav is back in the headlines following a series of strong performances for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Yadav has regularly gotten breakthroughs in the first over for KKR and his performances have been a big reason behind their early success in the IPL.

With eight wickets in three matches, he’s currently the Purple Cap holder in the league. The fact that he has been proving people wrong about his bowling abilities and his adaptability to the T20 game has been the best part of the story.

In a recent video posted by KKR on social media, the 34-year-old opened up about his humble background and how he went on to fulfil his biggest dream by playing for Team India. “From where I belong, there will be very few boys who believe that they could play for India. Playing and dreaming about cricket was expensive for them. Kit, bat, pad, shoes, etc. you just can’t do it because you live in coal mines, your father goes to coal mines and does hard work. At that time I had never thought I would play for India as it was beyond my imagination,” said Umesh.

Although he has been a regular in India’s test setup and has been one of the most dependable bowlers in the country’s pace battery, Umesh Yadav also spoke about white-ball cricket. He was instrumental for India during the 2015 ODI World Cup where the Men in Blue made it to the semi-finals. He was the highest wicket-taker for the country with 18 scalps to his name.

Recalling that tournament, Umesh Yadav said, “After we won the title (with KKR) in 2014, the next big moment for me was the 2015 World Cup. The kind of wickets that I got, I was the highest wicket-taker for India. So the real journey in white-ball cricket started from there.”

The veteran bowler also shed light on how he coped with dejection. Despite having a strong World Cup performance in 2015, Umesh Yadav was left out of India’s white-ball plans due to the emergence of Jasprit Bumrah and co.

“I feel bad when there was a downfall in my career and when I was in and out of the Indian white-ball team. People labeled me as someone who is not a white-ball bowler. I felt bad that how so much changed suddenly, at one point I was India’s leading wicket-taker of 2015 World Cup. But it’s okay, it’s life, it goes on.”