‘He reminds me of Mohammad Sami. Gets a little erratic at times but has seam and swing’: Akhtar on India star | Cricket

Kolkata Knight Riders have had a mixed outing so far in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Led by new skipper Shreyas Iyer, the two-time title winners crushed defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the tournament opener but failed to notch up a second consecutive win. A three-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore was a result of a below-par total on the board and the Kolkata unit will expect a much-improved batting show against Punjab Kings as the action shifts to the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. (Also Read: IPL 2022 Full Coverage)

Kolkata would look to match a power-packed Punjab batting line-up. But the bright spot in Kolkata’s unit so far has been the splendid bowling performance of veteran Umesh Yadav. In two IPL games, Umesh has been phenomenal with the new ball to pick up four wickets at an economy rate of under five. He went unsold in the first two rounds of the February auction before Kolkata showed faith in Umesh and bought him for ₹2 crore.

His performances this season have earned him huge praise from pundits and fans, and former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar has also lauded the Indian “wicket-taker” and compared him with Mohammed Sami.

“I have liked Umesh Yadav a lot for a long time. I used to look at him as a superstar in 2014. He reminds me of Mohammed Sami as he gets a little erratic at times but he has both seam and swing and is a wicket-taker,” Akhtar told Sportskeeda’s ‘SK Match ki Baat’.

“Now that he is bowling with the new ball, he will nip through the opposition and deceive them. With the new ball, he will not spare Shikhar Dhawan as he will attack his pads for LBW. But his ball also pitches and nips away, which is Dhawan’s weakness as he gets stuck with half-hearted shots,” he added.

Eyeing their third IPL title, Kolkata also have a new man wearing the captain’s armband. In the mega auction, KKR had bought Shreyas Iyer for ₹12.25 crore. Earlier, the right-handed batter had led Delhi Capitals in the IPL.

Shreyas has lately been in the form of his life. He scored three consecutive fifties in the recent T20I series against Sri Lanka to claim player-of-the-series in India’s 3-0 rout. He’s yet to score a big knock for his new IPL franchise but Akhtar feels the new KKR skipper has got a “spark”.

“Shreyas Iyer definitely has a spark in him. The thing that I like about him right from the start is that he is focused and also courageous, which is very important. Whenever KKR select a captain, they think properly and try to tick all the boxes as they did with Gautam Gambhir,” Akhtar further said.