Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri has revealed that Saurashtra speedster Jaydev Unadkat won’t get an India berth now as Indian selectors feel ‘he is too old for an India call’.
With no red ball cricket possible in the country since then due to the pandemic, Unadkat has been left disappointed by non selection for the Australia tour, the home series against England and now the UK tour. He doesn’t even figure in the standbys for the UK tour.
Talking to TOI, the former Saurashtra coach said, “I asked a selector during the Ranji Trophy final (2019-20) that if a bowler takes more than 60 wickets and has taken his team into the final of the Ranji Trophy single-handedly, shouldn’t he be at least picked for India A. That selector told me: ‘Kadu bhai, he won’t be picked for India anymore. His name is not even considered by us when we think of 30-odd players.’ ‘Why not, I asked him.’ ‘Then what’s the point of him picking so many wickets? I was told that ‘he’s already 32-33. Age is spoiling his case. It has put a full stop to his India career.”
Ghavri’s revelation came up a day after Unadkat, 29, expressed his displeasure over not being considered in even an extended squad for the tour of Australia and England. The left-arm pacer has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket with the highest wickets (67) in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season and 39 wickets in 2018-19. Unadkat also led Saurashtra to clinch the trophy in 2019-20.
“Why should we invest in an older player? We would rather pick a 21, 22 or a 23-year-old player if he’s good, he can serve India for 8-10-12 years. If we pick Unadkat today, how many years will he serve India for?’ This is what that selector told me,” Ghavri further added.
Unadkat, who is a part of Rajasthan Royals in IPL, has been waiting for India call up since 2010 when he made his Test debut against South Africa at Centurion. Since then, he has also featured in seven ODIs and 10 T20Is.
