Nidahas Trophy 2018: Jaydev Unadkat banking on subtle variations to cement his place in Indian team

Young speedster Jaydev Unadkat says variations are a bowler’s biggest asset in the T20 format and he is banking on that subtle skill to prolong his stay in the Indian team. Unadkat has broken into the Indian Twenty20 (T20) team on the back of consistent performances on domestic circuit, including the Indian Premier League (IPL). Has been doing a decent job ever since his comeback series against Sri Lanka in December. [caption id=“attachment_4274477” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jaydev Unadkat celebrating the dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga in Mumbai. AP[/caption] “Variations are most important for a bowler in this format. You talk about playing with the batsman’s mind and you can only do that with variations,” Unadkat said on eve of India’s match against Sri Lanka in the Nidahas Trophy. “You can see how hard batsmen are going at us in the Powerplay in this tournament. It is up to us how we come out of it and don’t allow them to hit. I back myself to do that,” said the left-arm pacer, who banks on his slower balls and cutters to deceive the batsmen. In the absence of senior bowlers, Unadkat opened the bowling alongside off-spinner Washington Sundar in the first two games. Unadkat praised Washington for doing a commendable job in the initial overs. “I think he is bowling really well. We have bowled together in the past for Pune in the IPL. What benefits us is that how he contains the batsman being an off-spinner, which is a very difficult job. In this game the openers just come and try to blast their way through. He varies his pace really well and keeps it simple,” observed Unadkat. Indian bowlers fared better against Bangladesh after the hammering they received at the hands of Kusal Perera in the opener against Sri Lanka. Unadkat said the bowlers will only get better as the tournament progresses at the R Premadasa Stadium. “You can be under pressure 24 times (off a maximum 24 balls) in T20s. We executed our plans better against Bangladesh and it is only going better in the coming games,” he said. He was also impressed with Bangladesh’s record 215-run chase against Sri Lanka on Saturday. “It was a very good chase. 215 by any team against any team is a great effort. It leaves the tournament wide open,” said Unadkat. On his India comeback, he added, “I was waiting for this opportunity ever since I started playing the game. These are exciting times for me. I have tried to do as well as I could and the next few months will be about how I can improve further.”