Bengaluru: There isn’t any peculiar action when Shreyas Gopal bowls. Just that he is effective. On Tuesday, his spell of one over changed the course of the match in Rajasthan Royals’ favour. Royal Challengers Bangalore heavyweights Virat Kohli (25), AB de Villiers (10) and Marcus Stoinis were his victims in three consecutive balls as he registered a hat trick.
During the post-match media interaction, Shreyas revealed that he was nervous bowling to Virat and AB. “Honestly, I am a lot more nervous than they would have against me. Feels good to be getting them out. Unfortunately, for me right now the most important thing is that we didn’t cross the line or we didn’t have a full game. We didn’t fall on the winning side, so still, we don’t know how things are in the table, but having said that it feels good to get those wickets. The five overs we had, give us a chance in the game, I am pretty happy about that,” he said.
Umesh Yadav who is having a miserable season with the ball. He highlighted the fact that despite playing all formats at domestic and the international level he isn’t considered premier fast bowler.
“Everybody is saying I am not bowling well and why is this happening? Because in the last two years I continued playing all formats at the domestic level, but after that, I have not played too many ODIs or T20s. I am just picked for two to three games, then again get dropped,” said Umesh.
Umesh, had a terrific outing with the ball last year, claimed 20 wickets with an economy of 7.86. In 10 matches he has played this year, he has bagged mere 8 wickets with leaking runs 9.6 runs per over.
Everyone is thinking I am not giving my best, but it is not. It happens for every fast bowler sometimes, we have a good or a bad day. I think this is the phase wherein from 4 to 6 months I am not that accurate. “Last time I was the highest wicket-taker and this year it did not happen, so definitely, I am feeling bad and hurt for not being able to deliver properly whenever the team wants from me,” he said.
Umesh also applauded the rise of young fast bowler Navdeep Saini. “He is a good fast bowler and wants to keep learning. After a long time, we have seen a bowler who can bowl at 150 km/hr and has good lengths as well. The way he is playing cricket and learning, he has a bright future ahead,” Umesh concluded.
