I’ve worked really hard to reach this level: Umesh Yadav

In an interview with Cricbuzz, the Royal Challengers pacer revealed that he had not held the cricket ball until he first appeared for district-level trials for Vidarbha.

When I first grasped it (cricket ball), I felt is this really a ball? Do people play with this thing? Because the place I come from, I had never held the ball. I had only seen it on TV. But I went through a lot to get here.”

Umesh also talked about how he broke into the Ranji scene.

“When I was selected for the Ranji Trophy, there were a lot of fights for that too. Because I had never played under age cricket. When selection started, our captain Pritam Gandhe fought for my case and supported me.”

Umesh vividly remembered how he shot to limelight after having impressed against South Zone in the Duleep Trophy.

“When I was selected to play in the Duleep Trophy, I did not know I would be able to perform so well under pressure. But when I took a five-wicket haul against South Zone which had players like VVS Laxman and Dravid, everybody started talking about me.”

Umesh feels that it was after that performance he started gaining confidence that he could play at this level. Umesh, who joined RCB in 2018 having played for Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders earlier, preferred the Challengers over his previous two teams while replying to one of the rapid-fire questions in the interview.