The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 is witnessing a completely new version of fast bowler Umesh Yadav. On Friday night, he rattled the Punjab Kings batting order with his prowess, registering his career-best figures of 4 for 23. His terrific spell, followed by Andre Russell’s heroics, helped the Kolkata Knight Riders win the game by 6 wickets.
Umesh came into the season after waiting for enough opportunities in the past two editions. In the last two years, he played just 2 games but now seems to have become a crucial cog at the KKR camp.
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The right-arm quick was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ following his stellar show against Punjab. At the same time, he edged past the likes of Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma for a massive feat.
Umesh now has the most number of ‘Player of the Match’ awards against a particular IPL team; 6 against PBKS. He went past Yusuf Pathan’s tally of 5, against now-defunct Deccan Chargers.
A look at the list of most POTMs against a particular IPL team:
| Player | No. of POTM Awards | Opposition |
| Umesh Yadav | 6 | PBKS |
| Yusuf Pathan | 5 | Deccan Chargers |
| Rohit Sharma | 5 | KKR |
| Chris Gayle | 5 | KKR |
Earlier, Rahul Chahar raised Punjab’s hopes with a double-wicket maiden to reduce KKR to 51 for four. However, Russell (70 not out off 31 balls) came out in the middle and changed the game with his barrage of sixes, 8 in total, taking KKR home in just 14.3 overs.
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No rope is long enough when Russell is going all guns blazing and he was in that kind of zone on Friday night. The Jamaican dasher fittingly ended the game with a couple of sixes off Liam Livingstone’s friendly leg-breaks.
It was KKR’s second win in three games while Punjab suffered their first loss of the season after the win over RCB.
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