Jaydev Unadkat credits Wasim Akram for IPL 2017 success

The tenth season of the IPL has indeed been a turnaround for left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who has contributed to the Rising Pune Supergiant’s success. Unadkat played such one match each for Delhi Daredevils and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the last two seasons. He was simply hoping for a few more games during his stint with RPS and now his records speak for themselves.

Despite being snapped for Rs. 1.6 crore back in 2015, Unadkat was happy to have found a place in the RPS line-up for just Rs. 30 lakh. He was given a go in the team following Ashok Dinda’s failure and cemented his spot with some stellar performances.

The Saurashtra pacer has bagged 22 wickets in the 11 games he’s played. He finds himself 4 wickets behind SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the race for the Purple Cap, and might well go on to overtake him in the final. Unadkat has exhibited great control and skill while bowling the slower ones and the off cutters at the death. He credited Pakistan legend Wasim Akram for imparting his knowledge during his initial days with the Knight Riders.

In awe of Wasim Akram

“I was too star struck by Akram. But I did manage to learn the art of swing bowling from him. I also learnt different ways of gripping the ball which I was not aware of. I have come a long way but the lessons with Akram taught me the basics of bowling,” Unadkat was reported as saying by Times of India.

He also lauded the field placements by skipper Steve Smith and MS Dhoni. He mentioned that their accuracy in the field placements has helped him perform better.

“Both Smith and (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni bhai know my strengths so well that they set the fields most of the time. These two guys work in tandem. If one is handling the bowlers, other instructs the fielders. In the end, I am only focused on my bowling,” Unadkat said.

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