Indian cricket team pacer Umesh Yadav picks the best fast bowler in the world

Indian cricket team fast bowler, Umesh Yadav picked countryman, Jasprit Bumrah as the premier pacer in the world, ahead of Australian seamer Pat Cummins. Umesh Yadav did so on the 4th of May 2020 in an exclusive Instagram Live session with Sportskeeda.

Speaking on the excellence of both bowlers, Umesh Yadav stressed that the pair had been performing exceedingly well in recent times. However, the Indian cricket team pacer opted for his compatriot due to the latter’s propensity to come up trumps across all formats.

“At present, it is difficult to decide because you have Bumrah and Cummins. But, I might prefer Bumrah because he is doing well in all formats,” Umesh quipped.

To put things into perspective, Indian cricket team fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah averages 20.33, 24.43 and 20.25 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, respectively. Pat Cummins, on the other hand, averages 21.82, 27.55 and 19.86 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, respectively.

Umesh hailed Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan as two of his role models

Additionally, Umesh Yadav also talked about how he looked up to the likes of Ashish Nehra, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan when he was young. He also mentioned that their ability to bowl at searing pace and make the ball swing motivated him and provided him the requisite inspiration to work even harder on his game.

"Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan are Ashish Nehra are the role models I followed when I was young. Looking at them, I felt that we [Indians] had the fast bowling talent and these players made me want to bowl fast and aggressively. I got the motivation that I wanted to be like them and play cricket professionally,” Umesh added.

The current Indian cricket team pacer also talked about how he idolized 1983 World Cup winning skipper, Kapil Dev, although he wasn’t able to watch the former all-rounder at his peak.

Umesh picks Ajinkya Rahane as his closest friend in Indian Cricket team

Umesh Yadav picked Ajinkya Rahane as his closest friend in the Indian cricket team

Apart from weighing in on the fast bowler debate, Umesh also spoke at length about the relationships the Indian cricket team players had forged among themselves. Subsequently, Umesh Yadav termed Ajinkya Rahane as his closest friend in the Indian cricket team.

“Rahane is a very good friend and we became very close when both of us started playing for the country. He made his limited overs debut before me and I made by Test debut before him. But, even during our India A days, we became really close and formed a good friendship,” Umesh said.