Built for the kill

                                          

                                                          Umesh Yadav 

                                                                                                                                      Cricket +

Stitches, leather and five-and-a-half ounces of compressed wood sliced Gautam Gambhir in half around his solar plexis, at the pace of a high-speed train. Immediately, the venom in Umesh Yadav’s eyes vanished, while his left hand came darting out apologetically. It wasn’t the first time that the young fast bowler had come close to reducing a fellow team-mate into a heap of bones.

“Dedh sau to hoga. Match mein bhi yehi dikha (Must be 150. Show it in the matcha as well ),” Gambhir barked back, with his thumb sticking up in a sign of total assurance. Yadav’s bee-stung mouth parted ways to display a set of shining, broad teeth, as the hulking frame turned into a mushy, happy jiggle. Next ball, Yadav cleaned the left-handed batsman up with another delivery of the dedh sau variety.

Inside the Adelaide Oval a day later, Yadav bowled close to seven balls in and around the 150 kmph mark — including one over 151 — to singularly own the honours board for the fastest times clocked during the game. He averaged 142 during his 60-ball quota. It was perhaps the quickest spell by an Indian bowler, ever. To put things in perspective, Mitchell Starc, Australia quickest during the Adelaide ODI, bowled just one ball at 144.2.

A rare performance

So for the first time in a long time in Indian cricket, the wickets that a fast bowler scalped were side attractions to the real talking point — the ability of a pacer to make the ball whistle at any given stage of the match. A genuine head-hunter, the rarest of Indian traits. It made the game’s Man of the Match gush at the press conference about a less rewarded performance.