Mitchell Johnson excited to see Umesh Yadav’s bowling in Asia Cup

08/31/2018

Prior to the Asia Cup, Mitchell Johnson has stated that he wants to see Umesh Yadav's performance in the UAE during the tournament. The Aussie has also added that Pakistan will have an upper hand because of its experience of playing in the UAE as they used that as their home ground in the past.

Asia Cup is scheduled to be played from September 15 and the Indian selection committee will meet tomorrow to select the players for the upcoming 50-over tournament involving cricket playing nations of the continent. India will play its opening game against a qualifying team while the second match will be against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 19. While India have been a force to be reckoned with lately - mostly because of the strong pace-bowling unit and two terrific leg-spinners - they will be the favourites to win the trophy once again. Johnson, who is going to be in the Asia Cup commentary panel, stated that he is eagerly waiting to see Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya bowl.

“Against Pakistan, India’s age-old cricketing rival and neighbour, and keeping UAEs pitch conditions in mind, I think seamers like Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya would work in India’s favour,” Johnson told PTI.

“Yadav’s biggest asset lies in the ability to choke an opposition at crunch times along with knocking opponents out with variations/reverse swing during his spells. Yadav, along with Pandya and (Jasprit) Bumrah, can perfectly set up the situation for the spinners who would be carrying the mantle of negotiating matches through the middle overs.”

Johnson did mention about Hardik Pandya’s performance in England where his five-wicket haul ensured a victory for the Indians in the third Test match at Trent Bridge.

“Pandya is currently doing well in the United Kingdom, where he is utilising the conditions well. Pandyas ability to extract pace from pitches and smartly bowling at length when required will help knock out the tricky Pakistani batting line-up. I am actually excited to see the way Umesh Yadav will bowl in the Asia Cup,” said Johnson.

Speaking about the conditions in the UAE, the 36-year-old said that Pakistan will enjoy playing Asia Cup in UAE considering the fact that the side has been using the stadiums as their adopted home ground for years now. The Pakistan cricket team has a lot of experience playing in UAE and they know the conditions better than any other team.

“Pakistan will have an upper hand and will enjoy playing in UAE due to its prior experience of playing in the PSL (Pakistan Super League) and knowing the weather/pitch conditions inside out,” he said.

With 313 Test and 239 ODI wickets, the former pacer believes that this edition of Asia Cup will be remembered forever as a tournament of the bowlers. He feels that each side has a quality bowling attack which will be interesting to watch out for.

“The pitches in UAE have traditionally produced belters, but with the bowling line-up all the teams possess currently we might remember this years tournament as the bowlers’ tournament,” he remarked.

Mitchell Johnson excited to see Umesh Yadav’s bowling in Asia Cup

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