‘Indian quicks need dedicated coach’

Umesh matured during these home Tests as a fast bowler in the longer format and former captain Sourav Ganguly was all praise for the Indian pace spearhead saying he was the fins of the home season. 

The Vidharba bowler played all but one of India’s 13 home Tests, impressing with control and consistent pace throughout. 

“I think we now have the pace attack to win test series in these countries,” said Umesh.

The paceman is a key figure in a pace unit which also includes Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. While the slow bowlers can turn to head coach and former spinner Anil Kumble for help, Umesh believes it would be beneficial for the quicks to have a specialist pace-bowling advisor on hand. 

“A fast bowling coach will definitely help bowlers like Ishant, Shami, Bhuvi and myself to improve,” the 29-year-old said. 

“In some matches I bowl badly and don’t realise what went wrong and how to correct. A fast bowling coach can help us correct our mistakes and improve as bowler.” 

Umesh, who picked up 17 Australian wickets at an average of 23.41 in what he calls his ‘best series’, illustrated his point with an anecdote about how he received some useful advice from batting coach Sanjay Bangar.

“I had been bowling short for some time and then Bangar bhai (brother) asked me to bowl a much fuller length,” he said. 

“He suggested that if I bowl a fuller length it would give the ball enough time to swing in air. 

“Bangar bhai told me not to either rush through my bowling strides or run too slow. He encouraged me to find my ideal rhythm and that is what I focus on while bowling. For me as a bowler, rhythm is very important. I don’t even look at the pitch before a Test match. I just try to get into a nice rhythm as early as possible and rest just happens.” 

Umesh is aware that he has only one five-wicket haul so far against his name and wants to change that.