Throwback to birthday boy Umesh Yadav's 2015 World Cup campaign 

India's bowling attack, especially the pacers, has historically been their weak point. This trend looked to hold leading into the 2015 World Cup, with the unfortunate loss of their most experienced fast bowler, Ishant Sharma. There were also concerns about Bhuvneshwar Kumar's fitness, who had been India's top pacer in the previous two years.

The remaining bowlers were characterized by unpredictability, inexperience, and a lack of testing.

India's success in the tournament seemed to hinge predominantly on the performance of their batters. However, the trio of emerging talents, namely Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Mohit Sharma, seamlessly adapted to the World Cup's demands.

These India pacers, led by Umesh, were the stars for the side. It is worth noting that Umesh and Shami were third and fourth on the list of the most wicket-takers with 18 and 17 wickets, respectively.

Umesh Yadav, in particular, was superb with the new ball. He found the pacy pitches of Australia to his liking and led the bowling attack with a lot of fire. He picked up wickets in almost all the World Cup matches, barring South Africa, and gave MS Dhoni the wicket-taking ability in the powerplay.

Umesh had the ability to swerve the ball away from the right-handers and on the big grounds in Australia, he used the short ball to great effect. He always had the pace and with his new-found accuracy, he became quite a handful at the World Cup.

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Umesh Yadav steps up against Pakistan

Umesh Yadav was too hot to handle for Pakistan.

He shut shop for Pakistan in their chase in Adelaide with two wickets when he sent back Ahmed Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood. In the six overs, he bowled against South Africa in the next match, Umesh was economical and never allowed the batters to put him under the scanner, giving away just 34 runs in six overs.

On a fast bouncy track at WACA Perth, he bullied UAE with a hostile spell and ended with 2/15 runs in his 6.3 overs. India’s pace bowlers were getting into the zone and they were making life easier for the batters.

The Men in Blue stayed back in Perth and took on the West Indies and Umesh was once again leading the way. He was excellent with the new ball and mopped up the lower and middle order with two wickets for just 42 runs in 10 overs.

India then took on Zimbabwe in Hamilton. Umesh Yadav did not have the best of games, returning with figures of 1/34 in his four overs. However, he was back in the groove against Zimbabwe in Ireland and ended with 3/43.

India made it to the quarter-final where they took on Bangladesh and this was where Umesh really came to the fore. Led by Rohit Sharma’s ton, India posted 302 in 50 overs. On a true batting pitch, Bangladesh needed a fast start but they were stopped in their ranks by the Indian fast bowlers.

Umesh picked up the key wicket of Tamim Iqbal and then came back later to dismantle the lower middle order to give India a resounding win by 109 runs.