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Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat has admitted that he had desired to play 100 first-class matches since his teenage days.
Unadkat made his first-class debut for India A team against West Indies A in Leicester in 2010. He registered figures of 13/103, including the wicket of West Indies' current red-ball skipper Kraigg Braithwaite in both innings.
Unadkat subsequently experienced ebbs and flows in his professional career. There was a big interval, between his first and second Test matches.
The 31-year-old made his debut against South Africa in Centurion in 2010 only to play his next game by the end of 2022. In the meantime, Unadkat toiled hard in domestic cricket and produced results match after match.
Unadkat became the captain of Saurashtra in the 2019-20 Ranji season and led them to their maiden title in red-ball cricket. He bagged 67 wickets at 13.23 in the title triumph to finish as the leading wicket-taker of the season.
The pace bowler's consistency with the red cherry for Saurashtra and West Zone in the domestic arena paved the way for an India comeback against Bangladesh last month.
Unadkat is set to play his 100th first-class game as Saurashtra takes on Andhra Pradesh in an Elite Group B match at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot on Tuesday, January 17.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo about the upcoming landmark in red-ball cricket, Unadkat said:
"One goal that I had set for myself back when I was 16-17 when I started understanding the importance of first-class cricket in my career. It was that I do want to play 100 first-class games."
He added:
"I will be honest with you there was a point where I reset the target to play 100 Test matches once I was out of the team. Once the year started to pass on when I got a couple of stress fractures. Those were the times I had to reset it again. And I made it more realistic and said that: '100 first-class games won't be bad as well'."
"I still smile thinking about those first-class 100 games" - Jaydev Unadkat
Unadkat returned to lead Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy just after his international comeback in the second Test versus Bangladesh in Dhaka. The Saurashtra skipper ran through Delhi in their first game of the new year.
Unadkat picked up a hat-trick to embark on 2023 in the first over of the match against Delhi. He dismissed Dhruv Shorey, Vaibhav Rawal and Yash Dhull in the third, fourth and fifth balls of the over, respectively.
The Porbandar-born finished with career-best figures of 8 for 39 as Delhi's innings folded up at 133. He was awarded player of the match in Saurashtra's 214-run victory.
Speaking on living the dream of playing 100 FC matches and how he can turn it into something special, Unadkat said:
"And I still smile thinking about those first-class 100 games. I still do it a lot of times thinking the next game I am going to play is my 100th first-class game. It's pretty special and hopefully like I have been doing in the past, I will be able to contribute for me and the team."
Unadkat has also been named in India's squad for the first two Test matches against Australia to be played next month.
