potent strike force

Emerging from the shadows of Mohammed Shami and vitalising his spot in the Indian cricket team had been far from easy for Umesh Yadav. Despite having a Test debut in November 2011, it is only now (2016-17 season) that Umesh Yadav has finally arrived. This entire season, Yadav has looked like an answer to the innumerable prayers of the country for a good and consistent pacer. Yadav always had an immense amount of pace, it was his inconsistency as a bankable bowler that made the situation dicey for him; today, it is exactly the opposite.

He's been such a go-to man this entire series for Virat Kohli that there's no one sniffing around his spot in the Indian team.

Back in his early days, Yadav looked bright; a genuine pacer for India which is a rare find. His erring line and length and a lack of control while bowling his pace is where he took a giant step back. Like most Indian pacers, he was also advised to let go of his pace but Yadav didn't budge and today, he's yielding the results of his hard work, patience and belief. The statistics clearly show Umesh's rise. Till October 2015, Yadav had taken 48 wickets in 15 Tests at an average of 38.56 and economy rate of 4.31 but November 2015 onwards, he has taken 35 wickets in the same number of matches at an average of 34.68 and a highly improved economy rate of 2.87.

Over the last 15 months, Umesh has got his act together. His accuracy has seen a tremendous growth and he has achieved it without letting go of his speed. While still clocking speeds of around 140 kph, he has consistently been on target in his last 15 Tests and he has exceeded four runs an over only once in his last 30 innings. The maiden overs tally has jumped up from 54 to 95. His strike rate looks dropped though but that is partly due to the catches dropped off his bowling this season.

This season, Yadav has been a revelation. Even though the Test season had been long and at home, he has still made his presence felt. Despite clocking an average of around 90 kmph, his line and length have been exceptionally good and his fitness has been top notch. Bowling immense amount of overs both with the new and old ball, he has made himself available for Kohli at all times.

When the home season was to begin, there were talks of how the spinners will dominate and they will be the reason for India's success. Yet, Yadav has emerged as a hugely successful and important figure throughout the home season. On Indian pitches, which hardly offer anything to seamers and pacers, it has been them and especially Yadav who have regularly been able to get breakthroughs and break partnerships when needed. It has been Yadav's aggression and his controlled yet fiery temperament that has worked in his favour.

Cut to the recently concluded India-Australia Test series, the pacers including Yadav have been more than effective even on pitches that weren't on offer for them. In the last Test in Dharamsala, it was for the effectiveness of Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar early in the second innings that brought Australia's downfall. With excellent bouncers, Yadav was able to send both Matt Renshaw and David Warner packing early on.

The coaches have time and again talked about Umesh's ability to extract reverse swing from the old ball that makes him so dangerous and in Dharamsala, he proved how beautiful he can be even with the new ball. New ball or old, Umesh has been India's man of the season. He's been seriously fast, he's been aggressive with his bowling (and not with his mouth), he's been consistent with his line and length, and he's managed to not break down despite doing all of the above for over 350 overs across 12 Tests since September 2016. There are two particular factors that have led to Yadav's improvement.

Under Bangar, Yadav found more consistency in his wrist position. He didn't shorten his run-up instead streamlined it enough to not fall over at the time of delivery. This tuning helped him deliver in the manner Kohli wanted. Before the beginning of the Australia series itself, Yadav took 29 wickets in 13 Tests going back to that South Africa series in 2015, more than a third of his career-haul of 77.

Yadav even went on to say, "Anil bhai and Sanjay bhai told me that I have the pace, and the more steady I become, the better it will be," he said. "They told me to relax and bowl. Line and length will automatically take care of themselves. I know that I have pace, so it's just a matter of getting my line and length right. I used my strengths to the fullest and slowly worked on my weaknesses. It's very important to have control along with pace and that's what I worked on. I learnt that as a bowler, you have to think like a batsman – where is he strong and weak. My thinking changed after talking to Anil bhai and Sanjay bhai. I spoke to our batsman too. They told me, 'Umesh, this length is good, it's troubling the batsman.' I planned my bowling accordingly."

As Kohli became the captain of the Indian cricket team, the team has seen the pacers rising. Kohli's affinity towards the pacers is evident. He likes to trust the pacemen and that has worked wonders for Yadav's growth. With more overs and the immense trust of the captain, Yadav has emerged beautifully.

Like the entire team, Yadav has also taken to Kohli's fieriness and aggression which he has channelised into his bowling and has yielded results. Yadav has shown on Indian pitches that he can extract bounce and reverse swings even in conditions not so favourable and if Yadav can keep up his form, he'll be a huge asset for India when they have a long Test season away from home. With Yadav coming of age, Mohammed Shami returning from the injury, Ishant Sharma finding form and Bhuvneshwar Kumar finally fitting into the Test format bill, India now have a pace quartet that can pick some nicks across the world.