International Breakthrough
In May 2010, Yadav was called into India's squad for the World Twenty20 in place of the injured Praveen Kumar, 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. India sent an under-strength squad with nine first-choice players either rested or injured. Yadav made his ODI debut in the tournament during India's loss to Zimbabwe, a team ranked tenth by the ICC at the time. Defending a score of 285, Yadav bowled eight wicketless overs while conceding 48 runs. Playing in three matches, Yadav took a single wicket.
After the tri-series in Zimbabwe, Yadav returned to the fringes of the team. He was included as a practice bowler when India toured Sri Lanka in July to gain experience of bowling to Test batsmen. He would have to wait until October 2011 before his next international match. After India toured South Africa in December 2010, Yadav was left out of the national squad.
In the player auction for the 2011 Indian Premier League, the Delhi Daredevils bought Yadav for $750,000. However he managed just two wickets from seven matches, while conceding 169 runs at over 9 per over. Yadav returned to the national set-up in September 2011 for a five-match ODI series against England. An injury to his left hand meant Yadav missed the last two ODIs. At times expensive though regularly fast, he managed four wickets at an average of 38.25 from three matches.
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. 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. In the second innings the spinners opened the bowling and Yadav took two wickets for 36 runs (2/36) to help India to a five-wicket victory. Yadav was the first cricketer to play for Vidarbha who went on the play Test cricket. India also won the second Test, and Yadav finished with nine wickets in the series, the most amongst India's fast bowlers and less than half the total of either of the team's spinners. In the five-match ODI series that followed, he managed six wickets at an average of 24.33 from three appearances.
Yadav was selected as one of India's pace bowlers for their tour of Australia in 2011–12. He played in all four Tests, taking 14 wickets at an average of 39.35 as India lost the series 4–0. In the third Test at the WACA Ground in Perth, he took his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket, with figures of 5/93 in Australia's first and only innnings. 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. At the 2012 Indian Premier League held in April and May, Yadav finished as the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 19 dismissals from 17 matches at an average of 23.84.
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