‘I Adore Dravid’: Most Expensive Indian Unadkat on Cricket Journey

Unadkat speaks about how he started playing cricket & what went through his mind after playing just one Test match.

Jaydev Unadkat speaks to The Quint.

(Photo: The Quint)

Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat emerged as the most expensive Indian in IPL Auction 2018, which was held in Bengaluru on 27-28 January. The fast bowler has been bought by the Rajasthan Royals for a whopping Rs 11.5 crore.

The 26-year-old is the second most expensive player in this year’s auction after Ben Stokes, who was sold to the same team for Rs 12.5 crore.

While speaking to The Quint, Unadkat said that he started taking cricket seriously when he joined The Duleep School of Cricket in Porbandar at the age of 11. His father was the one who wanted to enhance Unadkat’s skills.

I was around 11-years-old, when I joined The Duleep School of Cricket in Porbandar. That was the only academy available for cricket coaching. Once my father saw that I was developing an interest for the game, he wanted to me to take it up seriously. He used to take me to the school, so that I could see how players practice cricket. Then I wanted to join the school as early as possible. My father and I went to meet the coach Ram Odedra, when I was 10 years old. The coach asked me to wait for a year, before I could join officially. He asked me to attend the summer vacation camps for the time being. 

Jaydev Unadkat

When asked about his cricketing idols, Unadkat said that he adores former India captain Rahul Dravid.

I personally adore Rahul <i>bhai </i>as a cricketer, because of the way he used to carry himself on the field. After knowing him, I came to know that he didn’t believe in himself in the beginning, and then he worked for hours at the nets, just to get the self-belief and become the player that he was.

Jaydev Unadkat

Jaydev Unadkat opens up about what went through his mind after he was dropped from the Test side in 2010. He has played only one Test in South Africa in 2010.

The pacer also talks about the huge deal he has struck with the Rajasthan Royals.

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim