Indian pacer Umesh Yadav, who wrecked havoc on Australian batters to restrict the visitors on 256-9 at stumps on Day One of the opening Test, on Thursday insisted that he has been putting in a lot of hard work in the last six months and it is now paying off.
On a riveting day of Test cricket, Umesh bowled a top spell of pace bowling and took four wickets for 32 in the 13 overs on a dry Pune pitch that offered little bounce to the bowlers.
"I was practicing with Anil (Kumble) and Sanjay (Bangar) about what my line and length should be in the practice sessions. The hard work that I have done in the last six months has been paying off now," Umesh told BCCI.tv after the day's play.
"That is very important on such wickets. I was trying to bowl very tight lines on this wicket and hope for the batsmen to make mistakes. I was trying to minimize the bad balls and the scoring opportunities. I knew if they go for their shots they would play the false stroke and I would be helped by the reverse to get wickets," he added.
Umesh provided India with the first wicket when he bowled explosive Australian opener David Warner in the very first over of the day.
Commenting on that, the pacer said: "My spell started late and I knew that the ball was moving around quite a bit. I tried to get it much fuller to him and prevent him from freeing his arms. That is exactly what I wanted."
The figures of 4/32 by Umesh are his best figures in an innings in India bettering his 4/80 against West Indies in Kolkata in 2011.