"Journey of all those years" - Jaydev Unadkat puts up an emotional post after India's thrilling win in Mirpur
Jaydev Unadkat was the talking point at the start of the second Test between India and Bangladesh in Dhaka, Mirpur. The match marked the left-arm seamer's second Test for India after missing 118 Tests in between.
Unadkat made his Test debut in South Africa way back in 2010. He went wicketless and had to wait a very long time to get another chance. However, he never gave up and continued to perform for Saurashtra consistently season after season.
Finally, Jaydev Unadkat got his opportunity at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur and made some crucial contributions to India's thrilling win. He took to Instagram and posted a photo with the signed jerseys from his first and second Test and recalled his journey of 12 years between these two appearances.
Here's what Unadkat captioned the post with:
"To the journey of all those years in between.. 🥂 #267 #grateful"
The names on both jerseys put the timespan between Unadkat's first and second Test appearances into context.
The shirt from his debut had the signatures of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni, among others. The more recent jersey, meanwhile, was signed by KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and more.
Rahul Dravid was the only person to sign both jerseys, the former as a player and the latter as India's head coach.
Jaydev Unadkat should be given a long rope now: Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri
Former Indian pacer Karsan Ghavri feels Jaydev Unadkat has done enough to be selected in the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February next year.
Ghavri is hopeful that the selectors won't overlook how impressive Unadkat was on his comeback against Bangladesh. Speaking to TOI on this, the Saurashtra legend stated:
"Unadkat shouldn't be dropped. He should be given a long rope now. We will be playing versus Australia now and Unadkat should play all the Tests in the series.
"He bowled really well in this Test match (against Bangladesh). He deserves to be in the Indian side for some time. It's a great fightback and a great comeback from Unadkat. He is a special player."
With Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami likely to be fit in time, it will be interesting to see if the hosts stick with Unadkat against Australia.