On January 4, 2022, shortly after BCCI postponed the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season indefinitely due to rising Covid-19 cases, the 31-year-old posted a photo of the cricket ball red and urged him to give him “one more chance”.
“Dear red ball, please give me one more chance. I’ll make you proud, I promise!” wrote the Saurashtra captain. Well, the red ball gave him a chance.
Dear red ball, please give me one more chance. I’ll make you proud, I promise! https://t.co/ThPUOpRlyR
— Jaydev Unadkat (@JUnadkat) 1641314519000
On Saturday, TOI learned that the experienced left-arm tailor was recalled to the Indian team when he was chosen to replace the injured. mohamed chami for the next round of two tests in Bangladesh. An official announcement in this regard from BCCI should follow soon. The long-awaited recall is a fitting reward for years of hard work, perseverance and success in domestic cricket for the ever-smiling Unadkat.
About a week ago, he captained Saurashtra to the Vijay Hazare (One-dayers) Trophy title, winning 1-25 in 10 overs against Maharashtra in the final, and 4-26 in 10 overs against Karnataka in semi-final in Ahmedabad. With 19 wickets in 10 games at 16.10 and bowling best figures of five for 23 against Himachal, Unadkat had finished as the tournament’s highest wicket taker.
He played 18 international matches for India – one Test, seven ODIs and 10 T20Is. The only test he played for India was in December 2010, against South Africa at Centurion.
A top-class 96-game veteran with 353 wickets, he was the highest wicket-taker (67) in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, in which he led Saurashtra to the title. He also took 39 wickets in the 2018-19 season in which Saurashtra lost the final against Vidarbha
TOI previously reported that the left arm spinner Saurabh Kumar was chosen to replace Ravindra Jadeja, while fly-half Abhimanyu Easwaran is expected to be called up as a replacement for Rohit Sharma, if the India captain does not recover from a finger injury (dislocation) he suffered in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
The first test will start in Chattogram from December 14th. Express stimulator Omran Malik had replaced Shami in the three-game ODI series after the latter was ruled out with a shoulder injury.
