Unadkat and the transformative arc of Saurashtra's white-ball cricket

Jaydev to Jaydev... that transformation is the astonishing narrative of Saurashtra's white-ball success. Jaydev Shah, a record holder in captaincy in first class cricket, built a strong red-ball team and laid the foundation for the white-ball success and his successor Jaydev Unadkat has taken that and developed a robust a white-ball culture.

Since 2018, when Unadkat took over the reins of the side, Saurashtra have been consistent in the shorter formats following their run to the final of the 2017-18 Vijay Hazare Trophy under Shah. They made the quarterfinals in 2020-21, semifinals in 21-22 and rounded off this resurgence with the title a few days ago in Ahmedabad.

"I want to differentiate between the red-ball Saurashtra team and white ball Saurashtra side," says Unadkat, who led the team from the front with 19 wickets in 10 games at an economy rate of 3.33, the best of the lot in the tournament.

"We have been a formidable force in red-ball cricket for over a decade. The white-ball cricket was something which we wanted to get better at. When I took over the captaincy in 2018-19, we decided that we will be a force in white ball too. The consistency in white ball cricket is something we have been striving for. We made sure that the players are made aware of the mind-set change needed in the two formats," Unadkat, a left arm pacer, says.

The batters have been given more freedom and more encouragement to play shots and the bowlers were told to attack from the first ball. Start well and strike early were the motto and no compromises have been made on the fitness side.

The team management tried to eliminate the fear of losing wickets and allowed the batters to play big shots, something that was not a strong point of previous Saurashtra sides. Their batters have historically been hard grinders and builders of innings rather than blaze away in a trice. A prime example of this cultural change is Arpit Vasavada, who is, typically, a slow starter. After he was spoken to about his strike-rate, he started playing the lofted shots, so much so he started smashing sixes too, something he had hardly done before 2018.

"He is a formidable red-ball batter but he would take his time. He is experienced and we had a word with him. If he were to be part of the white-ball side, he has to be more attacking. He had to develop those lofted shots. He did not hit a six before 2018. Now he has equal number of sixes as any other batsmen in the side if I am not wrong. That was evident in the style of play. They were doing well but did possess that sense of fear. My job was specially to eliminate the fear," Unadkat says.

Saurashtra have also become a fitter side and Unadkat thinks they no longer think of themselves as second-best in any discipline when they go out to the middle. It was evident in the acrobatic catch that Prerak Mankad took off BR Sharath in the semifinal against Karnataka. And then there were crucial run-outs in the final against Maharashtra. "We are a much fitter team now and it has helped immensely in our fielding. The Prerak catch at third slip is the best I have seen in that position. Because it was a blinder, it shifted the momentum in the semifinal," he explains. "Then those run-outs in the final (of Pavan Shah and Mukesh Choudhary)... They gave us a huge advantage in the match."

In his bid to change the approach in the shorter formats, Unadkat had the backing of the other Jaydev, now the president of the Saurashtra Cricket Association. "Jaydev is open-minded. The fact that we have played together has helped us communicate things better over what is happening in the team and the changes to be made. Because he has played so much of cricket, we can take his inputs as well. He is a friend rather than a president of the association, a teammate still. He cares about the side as much as he did when was playing for it," Unadkat, said of Shah, who holds the world record of leading a first class side in 112 matches.

After Shah took over as the SCA president in 2019, he started the Saurashtra Premier League (SPL) which Unadkat says was a game-changer. "The association has done really well by organizing the SPL. It was a game-changer for us and became an integral part of our campaign. It has given the players exposure to pressure situations and taught them how to handle themselves. The SPL has made things easier for us in the SMAT and VHT. The players are that much more experienced," Unadkat says.

Shah says the SPL was an inevitability. "The SPL has helped the players. We have invested in infrastructure development. If we are consistent in all formats across age groups, it is because we have spent money at the right place," the SCA president said. "Having played at the highest level in domestic cricket, I know what is needed for the side and same with Mr Niranjan Shah, who prioritised infrastructure development. All that is paying off now."

This year the Saurashtra team has reached the knockouts of the Under-25, Under-19 and qualified for the quarterfinals in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy. This is primarily due to the cultural change that Unadkat emphasises upon although there are not many changes in the personnel playing for the side.

The star performers in the successful Vijay Hazare campaign too were the usual suspects: Samarth Vyas (443 in 10 games), Harvik Desai (440 in 10 games), Vasavada (301 in 10 games), Sheldon Jackson (297 in 10 games including an unbeaten ton in the final), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (15 wickets in 15 games), Parth Bhut (12 wickets in seven games) and Chetan Sakariya (12 wickets in eight games).