Umesh Yadav has been the surprise package of IPL 2022 so far. The Indian pacer's stocks were at an all-time low after playing just two matches in the Indian Premier League over two seasons. In IPL 2020, Umesh played just two matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore before shipped off to Delhi Capitals. For DC, the right-arm pacer didn't get to play even a single match in IPL 2021. During the IPL mega auction, Umesh went unsold in the first two rounds, before being picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders, a team he played for from 2014 to 2017.
After the lows came the high as Umesh repaid the faith shown by KKR by picking a bagful of wickets in the first three matches of the tournament.
Umesh took hold of the coveted Purple Cap, following his starring role in the win over Punjab Kings.
Twitter exploded with fans coming in their numbers to praise Umesh Yadav and poke fun at the earlier teams he had represented.
We tried to pick the best memes on social media. Here they are:
In the IPL 2022 opener against defending champions Chennai Super Kings, Umesh made his intentions known early by dismissing last season's Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad on the third ball. He then dismissed CSK's other opener Devon Conway to put CSK on the backfoot.
The pacer returned with figures of two for 20 off his four overs against CSK.
Umesh was even better in the KKR's next match against RCB. He once again struck in the first over to remove Anuj Rawat, then got the big wicket of his former captain Virat Kohli. In the four overs he bowled against RCB, Umesh picked two wickets and gave away just 16 runs.
On Friday, Umesh made it a hat-trick of taking wickets in the first over, removing PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal on the last ball of the opening over. He then returned to take three more wickets to register a four-wicket haul, taking his tally of wickers in IPL 2022 to eight.