‘Looks like it’s real’ – Jaydev Unadkat’s emotional reaction as he makes India’s Test squad

Jaydev Unadkat’s long wait ended on Sunday night when he was picked for the Indian team for the Test series against Bangladesh. He has replaced veteran speedster Mohammad Shami in the squad. Moments after the news was out, the pacer wrote an emotional post that went viral on social media.

Shami is currently undergoing rehab for his shoulder injury at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He picked up the right shoulder niggle during a training session prior to the Bangladesh tour.

Unadkat played his only Test back in 2010, against South Africa in Centurion. Since then, he has played seven ODIs and 10 Twenty20 Internationals but was never considered for the five-day game.

Unadkat was the highest wicket-taker in the recent edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as he snapped 19 wickets in the 10 games. He is the most successful speedster in Indian domestic cricket, grabbing 353 wickets in the 96 matches he had played so far, which includes a record-breaking 2019-20 Ranji season in which he took 67 wickets en route helping his side, to their maiden Ranji Trophy title.

KL Rahul to lead Men in Blue in the Test series

“Okay, looks like its real! This one’s for all those who have kept believing & supporting me… I am grateful #267,” tweeted after the Indian Cricket Board made the announcement on Sunday.

Okay, looks like its real!

This one’s for all those who have kept believing & supporting me..

I am grateful 🤍

#267@BCCI pic.twitter.com/llLYXIRHMV

— Jaydev Unadkat (@JUnadkat) December 11, 2022

The captain of Saurashtra is the second backup player in the Indian Test series who has arrived in Bangladesh for the Test series. The first  player is Abhimanyu Easwaran. The Bengal player helped India A overcome Bangladesh A 1-0 over the course of a four-day series. Now that Rohit Sharma has recently returned to Mumbai to recover from a finger injury that he sustained at slips during the second ODI, has been called up to fill in for him.

India’s updated squad for Bangladesh Tests: KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat