Didn't know what to do with leather ball at 20, reveals Umesh Yadav

New Delhi: He is now India's premier fast bowler. But until 20, he wasn't too sure what to do with a leather ball. It pretty much revealed how mush hard work and dedication Umesh Yadav must have put in become a cricketer, and in that, a fast bowler.

The 25-year-old revealed this fact ahead of the third Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy, beginning on Saturday.

"You tend to know a lot about the game you have [been] playing since childhood. But you can be at sea if you are suddenly told do something different," Yadav told 'bcci.Tv'.

"I started playing with tennis and rubber ball and didn't hold the seasoned ball until I was 20. It was pretty late for a fast bowler. So when that happened, I did not know what to do with the ball," he added.

He claimed that it took him at least two years "to work it out".

"I did not know where to pitch the ball, the first two years I could not understand when the ball would go out and when it would come in or go straight.

"Then my coaches stepped in to help me. They told me it was normal that I was finding it tough to control the ball. Thereafter, I started working on my action especially the position of the left hand, and from there on Umesh Yadav changed forever.

"And all along I knew my pace would take me somewhere," the Nagpur-born player said, recalling his early days.

Yadav made his India debut in a Test match against the West Indies in November 2011. He has since played 33 Tests, 70 ODIs and one T20I matches, taking 92, 98 and one wicket respectively.

Along with Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he forms one of the best Indian pace attacks.

He is likely to play a key role in the Kandy Test too. In the first two Tests, he took two wickets each.

(With PTI inputs)