Then, in the year 2007, having previously only ever played tennis ball cricket, Yadav joined Vidarbha Gymkhana (club affiliated to VCA; established in 1969 by J.A.

Pritam Gandhe, Vidharbha's Ranji trophy team captain, supported Yadav and ensured he represented Air India in a Twenty20 tournament.

Initially Umesh had troubled family life as his brother was acquitted in a robbery case.In his early years he moved from Jharkhand to Nagpur.

[14] He played for the side for four season before being released ahead of the 2018 IPL auction[15] during which he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In May 2010, Yadav was called into India's squad for the World Twenty20 in place of the injured Praveen Kumar,[23] but did not go on to play in the tournament.

Later that month, he was included in the squad to play a tri-nation ODI series in Zimbabwe against the hosts and Sri Lanka.

[24] Yadav made his ODI debut in the tournament during India's loss to Zimbabwe, a team ranked tenth by the ICC at the time.

He was included as a practice bowler when India toured Sri Lanka in July to gain experience of bowling to Test batsmen.

[33] When the West Indies toured in November 2011, the Indian selectors opted to change the team's fast bowlers.

Sreesanth and Praveen Kumar were left out of the squad and Yadav and Varun Aaron were chosen based on their performances in the ODIs against England earlier that year.

[34] Yadav made his Test debut in the first match and opened the bowling alongside Ishant Sharma in the first innings, though failed to take a wicket.

[40] In the triangular ODI series with Australia and Sri Lanka that followed, Yadav managed 5 wickets from 6 matches at an average of 59.80.

Writing for ESPNcricinfo in January 2012, Sidharth Monga commented that Yadav is fit, strong, quick, and gets the ball to swing late.

Five matches is a short career for a bigger statistical analysis, but it is worth mentioning that he takes a wicket every 39.2 balls.

[51]Former Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was impressed with Yadav's performance in the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in January.

Umesh Yadav bowled with a lot of steam on the third-day pitch and dismissed both openers before half the lead was wiped out.