After an exciting Ranji Trophy final between Saurashtra and Bengal, the man of the moment currently is the left-arm fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat, who made a staggering impact this season for Saurashtra and helped them to finally get the trophy in their hands after three unsuccessful attempts in the past ten years.
Unadkat led the side from the front even in the final game of the tournament as he claimed the prize scalp of a well-set Anustup Majumdar leg-before-wicket before affecting the run-out of Akash Deep to decisively sway the game in his teams’ favour after his side posted 425 runs on the board in the first-innings.
The skipper picked up a total of 67 wickets at an average of 13.23 which is most by a fast bowler in the history of the competition and the second-most overall. He has been unstoppable with the ball and his team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara didn’t hold back to appreciate his skipper and insisted that he will be surprised if he doesn’t see the fast bowler in the Indian team.
“Jaydev was modest that he would not be thinking about the Indian call but I will be surprised if he is not picked in the Indian team. Jaydev has bowled exceptionally well throughout the season. If someone takes 67 wickets in a season, I don’t think there is anyone who can perform better in the Ranji Trophy. There has to be a lot of importance to Ranji Trophy performance to get picked for the Indian team,” Pujara said.
It has been a disappointing story for Unadkat so far in the national colours as he last played for India in a T20I against Bangladesh back in 2018. He has played a total of 10 T20Is, he managed to pick 14 wickets. In the other formats of the game, he played 7 ODIs and got the taste of playing only one Test match for India where he failed to pick up any wicket.
However, the fast bowler is determined to make a comeback to the side and he believes he made a big statement after picking up 67 wickets in this competition. He also insisted that he wants to keep on bowling those long spells which he managed to pull off this season in the Ranji Trophy.
“I still have that hunger to make a comeback. The hunger has never been stronger than this and that actually kept me going throughout the season. To be honest, it was challenging physically surviving the season. Bowling those long spells as a fast bowler in almost every game. I just want to keep this phase going. I don’t want to end it here. Yes, we have won the trophy and I am the happiest captain in the world right now If I can say that,” he concluded.
