Ahead of the 14th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), veteran pacer Umesh Yadav has said that the T20 league holds great importance for him as he wants to represent India in white-ball cricket once again.
Umesh will be turning up for the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL 2021. After being released by RCB, he was roped in by the Delhi-based franchise for INR 1 crore at the auction in February this year.
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"I think it depends on my performance. If I do well in the IPL this year, I may be considered for the [white-ball] national side again. I feel the IPL will be really important for me if I have to play white-ball for India again, and so I am not looking too far ahead at the moment. You will be noticed only if you do well in it, after which it will be decided whether you fit in the World Cup side or not," Umesh told ESPNcricinfo.
"So my only goal now is to do well in the IPL. You also need to do better than the current crop of fast bowlers in the national side if you have to enter the limited-overs teams," he added.
Having made his India debut in 2010, Umesh Yadav has played 48 Tests so far, with 28 of them coming at home.
At 33, Umesh feels he can push his body for the next two-three years.
"As far as the rest of my career is concerned, thank god that relatively I haven't had that many injuries. And that is satisfying as a fast bowler, because once a fast bowler starts getting injured regularly, he tends to start struggling, which ultimately reduces his [playing] life. After an injury, there is the recovery, and then you need rehab, which consumes a lot of time, which you can never get back. But I have lost very little time to injury periods, which has kind of helped me lengthen my career. So I haven't had to compromise a lot on my pace as well," he said.
"I am 33 now and I know that I can mostly pull my body for another two or three years, and there will be some youngsters who will be arriving [to play]. I feel this is just healthy, because it ultimately ends up benefiting the team. When you have five or six fast bowlers on a tour of four or five Tests, you can play each one of them for two games to help reduce their stress and workload, so it helps that pack [of fast bowlers] play for longer. There is support for every bowler, everyone looks to give their best, and so whoever keeps doing the best keeps getting chances," the pacer further remarked.
Despite his fantastic record at home, Umesh is not a certain starter in the playing XI in Tests as Team India now have strong bench strength in the pace department.
Apart from the established trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami, rookies such as Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur have impressed one and all with their performances lately.
"I just think that I have developed the required line and length while keeping on playing in Asia. The more you play in particular conditions, the more your body starts adapting to it. I haven't done a lot different [while playing in India]; all bowlers know that the new ball swings whereas the old one reverses in India, which is what I have also focused on. It is just that I started bowling a particular line and length here as compared to overseas. Playing a lot in Asia has helped me gain the required experience and develop that mindset of bowling well here," Umesh said.
(With ANI inputs)
