ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Umesh Yadav lives a dream against Pakistan

To star in a game against Pakistan was Umesh Yadav’s one of the biggest dream.

After Umesh Yadav’s breakthrough in Indian cricket as an express fast bowler, one of his biggest dream was to star in a game against Pakistan.

Until Sunday’s match against Pakistan in Adelaide, Yadav had played only one match against the arch-rivals but failed to have an impact that he would have wished for.

One of the reason’s Yadav wanted to feature prominently was because while growing up he had always seen Pakistan bowlers intimidate the Indian batsmen with pace bowling. It was an era of quality fast bowling and the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar had been instrumental in winning matches for Pakistan. India on the other hand had always relied on batsmen or skilful medium pacers to undo the Pakistan batsmen.

Yadav felt with his pace he could bowl bouncers and at least try to shake up the Pakistan batsmen. But the issue for Yadav was that India and Pakistan played only a few matches.

He was in the Asia cup squad in 2012 but did not get a chance to play against them. He got a chance against England but the pitch was on the slower side. Finally on Sunday, Yadav’s dreams came true and he was playing on a pitch with bounce and had the backing of his captain to bowl fast.

For Yadav though the dream spell didn’t come with the new ball as many would have expected. It came when his country were desperate for a wicket. Yadav responded with not one but two. Growing up he would have seen Wasim Akram pick two wickets in two in a World Cup final against England and on this big day, he did it in a space of eight balls, to put his team on path of victory.

Yadav had dented the Pakistan middle order. He might not have picked up a bagful of wickets, or terrorised the opposition but importantly he had played a major role in scripting a win for his beloved India. He picked up 50 for two in his 10 overs and pouched the catch of Sohail Khan to end the match.

(Gaurav Joshi is an Indian-born Australian who played with Michael Clarke in his junior days. He coaches and reports for a Sydney radio station. Over the years he has freelanced for Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and is a regular on ABC cricket show Cow Corner. He is the author of the book “Teen Thunder Down Under” – The inside story of India’s 2012 U19 World Cup Triumph)