Birthday special: Jayant Yadav – The offie who has revived himself

Jayant Yadav made his international debut for the Indian side in the year 2016. After more than five years, Yadav has played just five Tests and a single ODI for the Indian side. The Indian cricket team is filled with a truckload of spinners, and Yadav sadly has not managed to seal his place in the side.

Ravindra Jadeja has emerged as the leading spin bowling all-rounder, Yuzvendra Chahal has taken the place of the wrist-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav came and went, and now Ravichandran Ashwin has come back into the reckoning.

And amidst all this, Yadav could not manage to feature in the Indian playing XI regularly. Yadav has a lot of experience at the domestic level. He has played 62 first-class matches and has scalped 167 wickets. Yadav has also played 59 List A games and has prized out 53 batters, and has also taken 44 scalps in T20 domestic cricket.

Yadav has also featured in 19 IPL games and has taken 8eightwickets in his IPL career. However, despite crossing 30 years of age, Yadav has still not given up. He made a comeback to the Indian Test side in late 2021 and featured in the two-match Test series against New Zealand.  He scalped five wickets in the only Test match that he played, four of which came in the second innings that helped the Indian side to thrash their opponents by 372 runs.

In fact, after the Test against New Zealand, Yadav said that he learnt the tricks of the trade from bowling great Ravichandran Ashwin. “It’s useful to feed off Ashwin’s mind, he thinks for the team in a different way, should always pick on thinking brains and add to your game. It’s great learning for me,” said Jayant Yadav after the match.

Now, Yadav has been picked in the Indian ODI squad for the series against South Africa. Even though he has not got chances, Yadav has not stopped trying. He has now fought his way through the ranks and is once again in the reckoning for a place in the Indian side.