Umesh Yadav becomes the 5th fastest to reach 100 wickets at home
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On the second day of the ongoing third Test between India and Australia at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, Umesh Yadav joined an elite group of Indian fast bowlers in reaching a milestone in red-ball cricket. Umesh, who replaced Mohammed Shami in the third Test to make his Border-Gavaskar Trophy debut, took three wickets for 12 runs in five overs to limit Australia’s first-innings advantage to 88.
In the opening session of Day 2, Umesh and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin wreaked havoc in the Australian camp, taking the visitors from 186/4 to 197/10. In the 72nd over, Umesh trapped a good-looking Cameron Green for a leg-before-wicket on 21. Umesh rocked the off-stump of his pace-bowling adversary Mitchell Starc while angling around the wicket, while Todd Murphy received similar treatment Umesh took his 100th Test wicket in India with the removal of Starc, becoming the country’s 5th fastest bowler to reach the milestone in Test cricket.
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Former Indian captain Kapil Dev leads the records in taking the most wickets (219) by a fast bowler in India. Javagal Srinath (108), Zaheer Khan (104) and Ishant Sharma follow Kapil (104). Indian conditions are frequently believed to benefit spin spinners to the highest degree and for a fast bowler to collect more than 100 Test scalps on such surfaces is a major feat. Umesh has now taken 237 wickets in 107 Test innings for India at an average of 29.74, with his career-best statistics of 6/88 against the West Indies in 2018.
In recent years, Umesh has gone out of favour in the Indian pace attack. Since 2020, the Nagpur-born cricketer has only played nine Tests for India, except the present Indore Test against Australia. He was rested for the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi, as India preferred Shami and Mohammed Siraj as frontline pacers. The 35-year-old has also played in 75 One-Day Internationals and nine Twenty20 Internationals for his country. Before to the T20 World Cup last year, he was recalled to India’s T20I team for the home series against Australia and South Africa. His appearance, however, was restricted to only a few games.
