"Umesh Yadav could come as an Impact Player" - Aakash Chopra says veteran pacer was a great buy for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024 auction

Aakash Chopra believes Umesh Yadav was a great acquisition for the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the IPL 2024 auction. He reckons the seam bowler could play the Impact Player's role for the franchise.

The Titans bought Umesh for ₹5.80 crore in the auction last week. Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson and Robin Minz were the franchise's other acquisitions at the auction.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that the Gujarat Titans found an able backup or ally for Mohammed Shami as a new-ball bowler in Umesh. He elaborated (3:15):

"They bought Umesh Yadav, who is a great choice. When you play in Gujarat and especially under lights, the ball moves. So you need (Mohammed) Shami's backup or someone to bowl with him because Hardik Pandya used to bowl with the new ball as well."

The former India opener added:

"You can play an extra Indian now because of the Impact Player rule. So Umesh Yadav could come as an Impact Player and bowl his overs, although he also bats well. So he might bat as well but both Umesh and Shami have the ability to pick up wickets with the new ball. Mohit (Sharma) is your backend bowler."

Umesh has picked up 136 wickets at a reasonable economy rate of 8.38 in 141 IPL games. However, he endured a poor run for the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2023, managing just one wicket in eight matches while conceding an average of 9.95 runs per over.

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"They have prepared a huge list of bowlers" - Aakash Chopra on the Gujarat Titans' IPL 2024 squad

Spencer Johnson was the Gujarat Titans' costliest buy at the IPL 2024 auction. [P/C: X]

Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Gujarat Titans have assembled a bowling-heavy squad. He observed (4:10):

"They have prepared a huge list of bowlers - Joshua Little, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Mohit Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar and Spencer Johnson, plus Azmatullah Omarzai, who was a steal at 50 lakhs."

The reputed commentator added that Shahrukh Khan's acquisition has bolstered the Ahmedabad-based franchise's batting department. He said:

"Then they bought Shahrukh Khan. So they got a batter in the lower-middle order. Sai Sudharsan is playing well in any case. Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, David Miller, Kane Williamson - a batting order like that, it's looking good to me. They have Rahul Tewatia as well."

While observing that Robin Minz is an excellent backup for Wriddhiman Saha, Chopra claimed that the Titans have given themselves a lot of options in all departments. However, he added that it seems like they didn't get their first-choice preferences and held them responsible for it as they didn't go the extra mile to buy Mitchell Starc and Harshal Patel.