Jaydev Unadkat raring to hit the field for the Rajasthan Royals

Jaydev Unadkat has hogged the headlines in the recently concluded IPL Auction in Bangalore. He was bagged for a whopping INR 11.5 crores by the Rajasthan Royals. Teams went hammer and tongs for the Porbandar-born cricketer and subsequently, he became the highest grosser ever by an Indian pacer in the Indian Premier League.

The pacer has been plying his trade in the prestigious tournament for quite a while now. However, his most significant performance came during the erstwhile season, playing for the Rising Pune Supergiants. He bowled immaculately for the Steve Smith-led team and featured amongst the top-wicket takers of the season. He also snapped his maiden hat-trick against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the tournament.

The journey for Unadkat

However, he went through a rough phase earlier in his cricketing career. Recently, he spoke to the media regarding the back-injury he suffered earlier in his career. “That was the most difficult phase of my cricketing life. The back injury was due to stress. I made some minor changes in my bowling post rehabilitation which helped,” Unadkat was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz.

The left-arm pacer also expressed his eagerness to string together another decent show parking aside his bid price.” It feels great but that (the money) is the last thing on my mind right now. I just want to go out there and give a good performance on the field,” Unadkat iterated.

The lanky fast-bowler also talked about his recent experience of playing for the national team when he played the T20s against Sri Lanka in December 2017. “I played in the T20 series against Sri Lanka recently and I think I did well. I would like to keep performing well and see how things go from there” Unadkat added.

Teams might have changed for Unadkat going into the eleventh season. However, he has Steven Smith as his captain who was also the skipper of the Rising Pune Supergiants. Nevertheless, Unadkat will be hoping for an impressive season and stay in contention for a berth in the Indian team.