RISE OF MISHRA AND UNADKAT

Even after noteworthy performances
in Ranji Trophy and IPL, Amit Mishra
and Jaydev Unadkat were
continuously ignored by national
selectors for several reasons. While
Amit Mishra was out of contention
after India’s forgettable whitewash
at the hands of England team at
their home where he actually didn’t
perform well, Jaydev’s case was much
worse. India already had two left
arm seamers in Zaheer Khan and
Irfan Pathan with more young
seamers like Bhuvaneshwar and
Umesh Yadav blocking all possible
ways that Jaydev can be picked in
the squad.
But Mishra came back strongly in
Ranji trophy last year with 21
wickets from 7 matches at an
average of 31.80. After Ranji trophy,
IPL 2013 showcased much of his
wicket taking skills. Amit Mishra
turned out to be backbone of
SunRisers Hyderabad franchise and
played a very important role in
taking team SRH into semifinals. He
single handedly won games with his
catchy wrist spin. Batsmen were not
able to make most out of Mishra’s
overs.

Jaydev Unadkat was not so
impressive in the Ranji trophy where
he picked up 20 wickets from 11
games. But in the IPL 2013, Jaydev
turned out to be bowling mainstay
for RCB in the absence of Zaheer
Khan who missed out due to an
injury. Unadkat bowled interesting
lines and picked up wickets in
regular intervals. His five-wicket
haul was one of the highlights of the
tournament this year. He picked 13
wickets at an average of 28.40 from
13 matches.
And now after the successful
Champions trophy and West Indies
tri-series where Mishra was warming
the bench for two months, selectors
decided to give chances to more
promising youngsters for the series
against Zimbabwe. So, Amit Mishra
got his chance to be the main
spinner of the side and to play all
the matches of the series. Mishra
grabbed his chance firmly for which
he was struggling for nearly a
decade only to end up as top wicket
taker with 18 wickets from just five
games. Mishra did not give much
room to the batsmen and bowled a
lot of tight balls to keep the run-
rate under control. Zimbabwe
batsmen looked clueless against
Mishra’s wrist spin.
Jaydev Unadkat was the pick among
Indian pace men in Zimbabwe tour.
Jaydev bowled with a lot of zest and
control. He was highly economical
too. One best example for how
matured Unadkat is, the way he
bowled in 2nd ODI. When both
Sikander Raza and Visu Sibanda
were breaking free against Vinay
Kumar and Shami Ahmed, Jaydev
came in and bowled some
interesting lines to bring back India
into the game.
After waiting for a long time on the
sidelines, both Unadkat and Mishra
got their chance for this Zimbabwe
series and they proved their worth
with their strong performances.
Hope both Mishra and Unadkat can
retain their place in the squad for
the home ODI series against Aussies.
Both of them have waited for really
long time and now they have already
made most of it. Now it’s just within
the hands of selectors and team
management to use their skills in an
efficient manner.