Zaheer bhai taught me a few tricks of the trade to improve as a bowler: Umesh Yadav

Indian paceman Umesh Yadav on Monday said speed was his only virtue before he came in touch with senior pro and teammate Zaheer Khan, who taught him a few tricks of the trade to improve as a bowler, says a report in The Hindu.

Yadav said he learnt a lot from Zaheer during the last Australian tour, which though was disastrous for India as they were routed 0-4 .  Yadav, with 14 wickets from four matches, was the second highest wicket-taker behind Zaheer on that tour.

“I didn’t know anything much besides bowling fast. Since I started bowling with Zak Bhai, he told me that with my pace, if I can gain a bit of control over the ball, I’ll be a much better bowler and I’ll get many more wickets,” Yadav said, adding, “That’s what I did in the latter part of the Australia tour -- concentrated more on my line and length than earlier.

According to a report in Deccan Herald, Umesh said, “He told me the sooner you learn from your mistakes, the better you’ll get. I always keep that in mind and try not to repeat my mistakes. “As a team, we didn’t do too well but when I returned home, the only thing I kept in mind was to keep up with the way I bowled there and keep improving on it every day. I was very happy to be going to Australia. It’s a dream of every fast bowler to bowl on Australian wickets. I’m very thankful to Zaheer-bhai,” he said after India’s win against New Zealand in the first Test here.

Meanwhile according to a Mail Today report, Umesh said that the pacers bowled with a strategy against the Kiwis. 'The wicket was not turning that much. Our spinners worked really hard for their wickets. But yes, when bowling on such slow and low wickets, we just try to keep pitching the ball on one side of the wicket consistently. The last two series that we played didn't go well for us and we were under a lot of pressure ahead of this one. This is a good start to the season and we'll look to carry on in this vein.”