After Kohli\, Umesh speaks out against SG ball

India skipper Virat Kohli has already advocated the use of hand-made Dukes from England. “If you are saying that lower order has scored runs, then you must realise that in India, with SG Test balls on these kind of flat tracks, you neither get pace nor bounce. So the option to use variations ends,” said Umesh.

“So (with SG) all you can do is to bowl one spot but then you will realise that nothing is happening even off the pitch nor is it swinging. So when middle and lower order comes in, they know that ball has become soft and it doesn’t come at a pace and batting becomes easier,” added Umesh, who had figures of 3 for 83 from 23 overs.

“Tail-enders know that it will neither swing nor reverse. You just have to wait for something to happen and keep trying. But you can’t really do it on such a big ground, the ones and twos keep coming. And West Indies’ game is like that only,” he sounded helpless.

It was an exceptional effort from him on a flat track and he said that he was prepared for a long haul after Shardul Thakur’s groin injury. “Had Shardul been there, it would have been more help for the spinners. Like I got three wickets and if he could have chipped in with a couple, it would have only helped our team. But you can’t really do anything in these situations as this is part and parcel of the game. If he (Shardul) is not there, I will have to bowl his quota of overs too and I knew he was not going to come back. I didn’t want negativity to creep inside me that we are now one bowler short,” the Vidarbha pacer said. 

Umesh said his strategy was to go for wickets rather than trying to contain which was not the best option on a big ground. “I decided that I had to take a chance. If I also try to contain runs, it will be difficult as the partnership (Roston Chase-Jason Holder) will only get bigger. So my aim was to get as many wickets as possible and I just tried,” said the pacer from Vidarbha.