IPL 2022: Umesh Yadav completes 50 wickets in powerplay, Kolkata Knight Riders pacer joins an elite club

Mumbai, April 1: India pacer Umesh Yadav continued his good form with the ball in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 as the Kolkata Knight Riders' seamer put on a display of his wicket-taking ability in the powerplay.

In the league match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings, the Vidarbha seamer dismissed Mayank Agarwal in the very first over of the match on Friday (April 1) at Wankhede Stadium.

Umesh bowled a perfect in-swinger which beat the Punjab Kings skipper's bat and the ball crashed into his pad. The bowler appealed and the umpire raised his finger in confirmation. The batter didn't even bother going upstairs as he too knew that he was trapped plumb in front.

Mayank, thus, became Umesh's 50th victim in the powerplay and with that, the right-arm seamer joined an elite club and became only the fourth bowler to do so in the history of the domestic T20 league.

Former India pace great Zaheer Khan leads the table with 52 wickets in the powerplay. Punjab Kings' pacer Sandeep Sharma holds the joint record with Zaheer with as many dismissals in the first six overs. Sunrisers Hyderabad quick Bhuvneshwar Kumar is next on the list with 51 scalps. Umesh is fourth on the list.

Earlier while speaking over Umesh's performance for KKR in the ongoing tournament, team head coach Brendon McCullum said, "Umesh has been simply outstanding. I was lucky enough to play with Umesh when I was still playing the game back then and I knew how good a bloke he was and how much of a talent he was, especially with the new ball if there was assistance."

Umesh last played a T20I match for India back in 2019 and he would be looking to get into the national reckoning as T20 World Cup in Australia is just six months away on the back of some solid performances in IPL.

When asked about what brief with Umesh Yadav has been generally, McCullum said, "His brief is very much to try and take wickets for us. If he goes for a few runs, we don't care, we just want to have the attacking mentality. In two games, he has done more than we could have asked for."

"I know he is closer to the end of his career. But he is still incredibly fit, very very driven and we see him as a huge asset for us, especially in the early stages of the tournament when the ball is still swinging and seaming," the former New Zealand captain added further.