Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was highly impressed with Jaydev Unadkat for his impressive show with the ball on his comeback match against Bangladesh. Unadkat claimed two crucial wickets as Indian restricted Bangladesh to 227 on the oping day of the match.
Unadkat, who made his test debut in the year 2010, played his second Test on Thursday, after having to wait for 118 red-ball matches and 4,389 days, against the Bangla Lions.
The left-arm seamer took the crucial wicket of in-form Bangladesh opener Zakir Hasan early for 15.
Gavaskar heaped praise on Unadkat for his impressive bowling and said he opened the door for other bowlers to take the wickets.
“What a terrific comeback by Jaydev Unadkat. He looked the most threatening of the bowlers. He looked like getting a wicket of every delivery he bowled. So, he was the one who opened the door for India and then Ashwin and Umesh got the wickets,” Gavaskar told Sony Sports on Thursday.
The legendary batter also talked about Unadkat’s hard work in domestic cricket in the past many seasons which helped him make a comeback in the Indian team after a long time.
“First and foremost, to harbor the ambition to keep playing cricket is a tribute to him. He has been picking wickets in the last 5-6 seasons and he was never even in contention, nobody was even talking about him playing a Test match for India. He believed in himself. You have to pay tribute to the belief he has in himself. He was just trying to soak in the feeling,” Gavaskar added.
Also Read | IND vs BAN, 2nd Test Day 1: Umesh, Ashwin Restrict Bangladesh to 227, India Post 19/0 at Stumps
Unadkat has claimed 353 wickets in his 96-match career as he was also a central figure in Saurashtra’s first Ranji Trophy title win in 2019/20, picking a record-breaking 67 wickets.
“And his pace was impressive as well. He is not express, he is not going to bowl at 150s but he was bowling consistently in the mid 130s, using the height. What he has done today, bowling on this kind of surface, he has given India an extra option, an extra dimension – a left-arm new-ball bowler for the future series,” Gavaskar said.
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