Umesh Yadav has been Vidarbha’s lynchpin during the knockouts as the defending champions made it to back-to-back Ranji Trophy finals. He, of course, missed most of their early campaign because he was with the Indian team. But the right-arm pacer was part of Vidarbha’s quarter-final (against Uttarakhand) and semi-final (against Kerala). And, he aggregated 17 wickets in those matches, helping his team record innings victories in both games.
But in the final against Saurashtra, which begins on Sunday, he will be up against an all-too-familiar face from the Indian dressing room: Cheteshwar Pujara.
Pujara, like Yadav, has been his team’s talisman. Continuing his magnificent form he displayed in the recent Test series against Australia, Pujara scored a match-winning hundred in Saurashtra’s semi-final against Karnataka.
About bowling to Pujara in the title clash, Yadav told CricketNext, “Definitely it is a tough challenge. Every opposition wants to get him out as soon as possible. If he spends time in the middle and gets his eyes in, he is going to score big. Mr Pujara just bats on and on. I’ll definitely target him and getting him early will be good for me as well as my team.”
But Yadav has a back-up plan, just in case Pujara doesn’t get out: target the other batsmen.
“How long can Pujara keep batting alone? We don’t have problem in getting 10 wickets from the other end. Our plan is to ensure that Pujara scores as less as possible, he might have to change his game,” he added.
Vidarbha will look to defend their title in the summit clash which will take place in Jaipur.