Unadkat expresses disappointment over exclusion from India’s recent overseas squads

Jaydev Unadkat who had a breakthrough 2019-2020 Ranji season leading Saurashtra by picking a record-shattering 67 wickets, is feeling disappointed over his exclusion from the squads for overseas tours to Australia and England. The left-arm pacer feels he is at the peak of his form and deserved a place in the squad on the back of his stupendous showing in domestic cricket.

Unadkat’s form and is consistent hostile spells of bowling from the new and old ball helped Saurashtra finally end their trophy drought. He broke a long-standing 21-year-old record held by Dodda Ganesh to fittingly be named the player of the series. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ranji season for 2020-21 was officially called off and Unadkat could not continue his rich vein of form.

Speaking to Sportstar, Unadkat expressed his displeasure on missing out from squads after putting in the hard yards.

Jaydev Unadkat disappointed about not getting enough chances in Test cricket

“I expect that (selection in India team) when I am at my peak now, when I have performed the way I have, I was hoping I’ll get the call somewhere down the line. The opportunities have become… one, they have reduced because of lesser tournaments, but that has resulted in them creating a bigger pool for every series. That way, it has become an opportunity in itself.”

The likes of Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini and T Natarajan have gone ahead and have made an impact during the Australia and England series. Unadkat feels he is in supreme form and fitness. The 30-year-old pacer feels his dismal 2020 IPL might be one of the factors which might have prompted his omission from the squad.

“Even during the Australia tour, with the amount of injuries that were happening, it became disappointing afterward. To start with, maybe because I didn’t have a great IPL (2020) – and what they look for is the current form. It was T20 cricket in IPL, but it was going to be red-ball cricket Down Under, but nowadays, they look at current form more than the format. Since there wasn’t much cricket happening back then, there was no Ranji Trophy this season, that way to start with, I felt (exclusion from) Australia tour was fine because everyone was fit in the main squad. But later on, (looking at) those who got chances, I felt I deserved one,” concluded Unadkat.