India's fastest bowler Umesh Yadav is fit andraring to unleash his thunderbolts again but he wants to be careful about theworkload his body can take during the sixth edition of Indian Premier League.
"I have been bowling in the nets for a month now and Ihave fully recovered from my lower-back injury. I will be available from thefirst match for Delhi Daredevils. But considering the number of matches and theamount of travel involved, I need to be careful about the workload and willspeak to the coaches regarding that," the Vidarbha paceman told PTI duringan interaction from Indore.
Umesh, whose last competitive game was a Test match againstEngland at Motera, will make a comeback for Vidarbha tomorrow in the SyedMushtaq Ali T20 game against Odisha.
"This will be my first competitive game in four months.
Irrespective of the amount of effort you put in at the nets,there is no substitute to match-practice. Tomorrow, I will get an idea abouthow I am shaping up. I am planning to play all the group league games which areon successive days which will provide me with an idea as to how my body isholding up," said Umesh, who has so far taken 32 wickets from nine Tests.
Will this injury mean compromising with pace, he retorted,"I have not learnt the art of reducing my pace! There is absolutely noquestion on cutting down on my pace.
Pace is something that comes naturally.
Umesh thanked NCA trainer Ashish Kaushik, who had workedextensively with the pacer during his rehabilitation along with the other NCAcoaches monitoring his progress.
"I know my body better now. Fast bowling takes a lot ofeffort and niggles are a part and parcel of a cricketer's life. But one needsto be aware about injury management and I have come out much stronger afterthis forced break."
During the first two months, when he was forced to stay athome, he would get "irritated".
"When in Nagpur, I would hang out with friends butmostly remained irritated as there used to be no sporting activity.
Then I would shuttle between Bangalore and Nagpur for myrehab."
The 25-year-old is ecstatic that India have completed a 4-0clean sweep against Australia, but regrets the fact that he couldn't be part ofthe series.
"It's obvious that you feel good about the result butthe real satisfaction is when you are out there in middle contributing toteam's cause. It's really not the same when you sit back and watch yourteammates on television," he concluded.
"I didn't want to rush my comeback. When I firststarted bowling, it was four-step run-up. Gradually, I increased it to eightsteps and from there to 12 steps. Now I am bowling with my full run-up which is16 steps."