Top 5 Bowling Performances of Jaydev Unadkat in IPL

Best Bowling Performances of Jaydev Unadkat in IPL

Jaydev Unadkat’s story so far in the Indian Premier League has been a strange one. He has bowled superbly at times, and things went horribly wrong on many other occasions. Despite that, given a left-arm Indian pacer costs more than a diamond in the auction, he manages to secure big contracts.

Till that, things are pretty ordinary. But what has surprised everyone is the reports that Unadkat, whom not many were sure will be a nailed-on first XI player, is now looking likely to be the interim skipper of Rajasthan Royals till Steve Smith remains unavailable. Despite all the criticism, there is no shying away from the fact that Unadkat has had plenty of good performances in IPL.

Let us have a look at the top 5 bowling performances of Jaydev Unadkat in IPL:

5. 3/46 vs Delhi Capitals

We start off our list of top 5 bowling performances of Jaydev Unadkat in IPL with a 2018 game, a season where Unadkat took plenty of wickets but also had a very high economy rate. Both the sides of the coin are very transparent in this particular scenario when Rajasthan Royals took on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Capitals lost Colin Munro early to Dhawal Kulkarni, and the next to go was Prithvi Shaw. But then Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant constructed a superb third-wicket stand, and Royals were begging for a breakthrough. Unadkat did that by getting the better of Iyer, and then in the same over, he got Pant dismissed. Later in the innings, he also took the wicket of all-rounder Vijay Shankar. However, he was extremely expensive in this game.

4. 3/32 vs Chennai Super Kings

The 2014 season was not particularly fruitful for Unadkat, as besides this game, he was never really up to the mark. But when his then team Delhi Capitals faced Chennai Super Kings, Unadkat expressed what he is well and truly capable of producing.

Unadkat earned the capitals their first breakthrough, through the form of Brendon McCullum. He was quiet after that but found his rhythm back again when it mattered the most – during the slog overs. The first big fish he caught was opposition skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ravindra Jadeja was the next one to follow suit, helping Unadkat get his 3-wicket haul.

3. 3/26 vs Rajasthan Royals

Though most of his brighter moments have come in the blue of Royals, Unadkat initially got his fame and recognition in the purple of KKR. His debut came way back in 2010, and in this game against his current side Rajasthan Royals, he announced his arrival at the big stage.

Shane Watson and Naman Ojha set up a great opening stand for Royals, and it was only after they put 59 runs on the scoreboard that Laxmi Ratan Shukla got the better of Watson. Unadkat then stepped in and quickly removed the other opener in Ojha. In his next over, the got rid of the dangerous Yusuf Pathan. Later on, in the innings, he added to his tally by dismissed Abhishek Raut.

2. 5/30 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

The next spell on our list of top 5 bowling performances of Jaydev Unadkat in IPL is from the 2017 season, where Unadkat took 24 wickets. Till date, this remains his best season in IPL. Playing for Rising Pune Supergiant, Unadkat faced Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

Batting first, Pune could only score 148. Courtesy Ben Stokes, Hyderabad had a poor start to the game. After he dismissed the top three, Imran Tahir got the better of Moises Henriques. Then came the Jaydev Unadkat show, which started off with the wicket of Yuvraj Singh. In the same over, he added Naman Ojha, his former prey, to his victim’s list. In his last over, which also happened to be the match’s last, he took a hat-trick. The three victims were – Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

1. 5/25 vs Delhi Capitals

Despite Unadkat picking up a hat-trick against Sunrisers Hyderabad, this performance against Delhi Capitals in 2013 remains his best ever in IPL. Then playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Unadkat took his first-ever IPL 5-wicket haul here. Batting first, Bangalore scored a more than a satisfactory total of 179.

Unadkat derailed the run chase as he got the wickets of both openers Mahela Jayawardene and Virender Sehwag inside the powerplay. His next victim came in the 17th over in the form of Unmukt Chand. In the same over, he dismissed Kedar Jadhav. The game went right down the wire to the final over, where Unadkat dismissed Morne Morkel to settle things once and for all.