India · Bowler

Jaydev Unadkat Age, Stats, 493 First-Class Wickets and Records

Jaydev Unadkat is a 34-year-old Indian left-arm medium-fast bowler who represents Saurashtra, Sussex and Sunrisers Hyderabad. His 21 August 2026 innings cutoff lists 493 wickets from 140 first-class matches through Warwickshire's first innings on 21 August 2026, including best innings figures of 8/39. Unadkat also captained Saurashtra to the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy title with a competition-record 67 wickets, returned to Test cricket after 12 years and took 4/29 on his June 2026 Sussex return.

By StumpScope Cricket Desk · Edited by StumpScope Editorial Team

Right-handedLeft-arm medium bowlerBorn 18 October 1991

Named Sussex Cricket player portrait cross-checked against the club's official 2026 return announcement and IPLT20 identity; exact 600 by 600 image ↗

Current squadSussex SharksCounty Championship · Official 2026 Sussex return plus Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL squad context

Open team page →

Full nameJaydev Dipakbhai Unadkat

Age34As of 22 August 2026

Date of birth18 October 1991Porbandar, Gujarat, India

Batting styleRight-handed

Bowling styleLeft-arm medium

Career overview

Jaydev Unadkat cricket career

Born 18 October 1991 in Porbandar, Gujarat; age 34 on 22 August 2026.

Left-arm medium-fast bowler with four Tests, eight ODIs and ten T20Is for India.

Reconciled first-class record: 493 wickets, 24 five-fors and five ten-wicket matches.

Ranji Trophy 2019-20 record: 67 wickets while captaining Saurashtra to the title.

Current 2026 teams include Sussex in the County Championship and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

Career story

Jaydev Unadkat career and playing journey

Who is Jaydev Unadkat?

Jaydev Dipakbhai Unadkat is an Indian left-arm medium-fast bowler born on 18 October 1991 in Porbandar, Gujarat. He bats right-handed and was 34 on 22 August 2026. His current cricket is centred on Saurashtra in India, Sussex in the County Championship and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

Unadkat has played all three international formats for India, but his deepest body of work is in first-class cricket. He became a title-winning Saurashtra captain, built a large domestic wicket tally and later developed a productive late-season role with Sussex. His IPL career is a separate short-form record and should not be combined with his first-class or India totals.

Jaydev Unadkat's early India pathway

Unadkat represented India at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup before making rapid progress into senior cricket. He made his Test debut against South Africa at Centurion in December 2010, aged 19. The debut brought no wicket across 26 overs, and he then spent more than a decade outside India's Test XI while building his domestic record.

His international career developed more regularly in limited-overs cricket during the following years. The reconciled record lists eight ODIs and ten T20Is, compared with only four Tests. That uneven distribution helps explain why Unadkat is best assessed through format-specific rows rather than a single combined number of India appearances.

Jaydev Unadkat Test stats and 12-year comeback

Unadkat's Test record contains four matches, three wickets and best bowling of 2/42. He delivered 474 balls and conceded 231 runs, giving a bowling average of 77.00. With the bat, he scored 36 runs at 12.00 with a highest score of 14 not out. These numbers are a small international sample rather than a summary of his red-ball career.

His second Test came against Bangladesh in Dhaka on 22 December 2022, 12 years and two days after his debut. ICC recorded it as the longest interval between Test appearances by any player in the 21st century, with Unadkat missing 118 India Tests in between. His dismissal of Zakir Hasan was also his first Test wicket.

Jaydev Unadkat ODI and T20I records

In eight ODIs, Unadkat took nine wickets at 25.00 with best figures of 4/41. His ten T20Is produced 14 wickets at 21.50 with a best of 3/38. The ODI record spans 342 balls and the T20I record 208, which shows that both totals came from limited opportunities rather than sustained multi-year selection.

ODIs sit inside List A cricket, while T20Is sit inside overall T20 cricket. Unadkat's India wickets therefore overlap with his wider format totals. Adding the international rows to those broader records would count the same matches twice, even though each row remains useful for showing what he achieved specifically for India.

Jaydev Unadkat first-class stats

The 21 August 2026 first-innings cutoff lists 140 matches, 493 wickets at 22.90 and best innings figures of 8/39. It records 24 five-wicket innings and five ten-wicket matches. Those figures include his Tests, Ranji Trophy career, county appearances and any other qualifying first-class matches through the cutoff.

Unadkat also contributed 2,217 first-class runs at 16.30, with eight fifties and a highest score of 92. That batting record does not change his primary role as a bowler, but it shows useful lower-order experience across a long domestic career. His 58 catches are fielding dismissals, not bowling wickets.

What is Jaydev Unadkat's 8/39 record?

Unadkat's 8/39 is his best first-class innings return in the dated career table. It means he took eight wickets while conceding 39 runs in one innings. The figure belongs within his 493 first-class wickets and is not an additional set of dismissals to place on top of the career total.

An eight-wicket innings is different from a ten-wicket match. A bowler can reach ten across both innings without taking eight in either one. Unadkat's record lists five ten-wicket matches as well as 24 five-wicket innings, so the career table preserves both types of achievement without treating them as interchangeable.

How Unadkat set the 67-wicket Ranji Trophy record

Unadkat took 67 wickets in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, the highest season tally recorded in the competition. He captained Saurashtra and took his 67th wicket when he dismissed Ishan Porel in the final against Bengal. Saurashtra secured a 44-run first-innings lead and won its first Ranji Trophy title under the competition rules then in force.

The 67 wickets are included within his first-class career total, while the captaincy and final explain why that season stands apart. His dismissal of Ishan Porel secured the last wicket needed for the decisive first-innings lead. The title remains a team result even though his individual bowling record was central to it.

Unadkat's Saurashtra leadership and domestic importance

Saurashtra gave Unadkat the sustained red-ball role that was not available to him at international level. As captain and new-ball bowler, he could set fields around his own methods, use changes of pace over long spells and return against lower-order batters. That continuity helped turn a wicketless Test debut into a first-class record approaching 500 wickets.

Domestic leadership also provides the right context for his India comeback. Selection in 2022 was not based on one isolated performance; it followed years of Ranji Trophy output, including the record title season. His four Tests remain a small part of the same first-class record, but the return showed that domestic achievement could reopen an international opportunity after an exceptional gap.

Jaydev Unadkat's Sussex record from 2023 to 2025

Sussex says Unadkat took 11 wickets in three matches during his 2023 stint, including 6/94 against Leicestershire. A later two-year contract announcement gives 15 wickets from three appearances for that season, so the club's own pages contain a numerical conflict. This page does not merge the two claims and uses the more recent 2026 return announcement for its season summary.

The same current announcement records 22 wickets at 14.4 across five matches in 2024, helping Sussex win the Division Two title. In 2025, he took 16 wickets at 17.25 and claimed seven in the match against Worcestershire. These are county-season subsets already contained within his wider first-class record.

Jaydev Unadkat's 4/29 on his 2026 Sussex return

Unadkat returned for Sussex against Glamorgan at Hove on 12 June 2026 and took 4/29 in the first innings. Sussex dismissed Glamorgan for 155 before winning by an innings and 98 runs inside three days. The spell confirmed an actual 2026 appearance and performance, going beyond the earlier contract announcement for the final eight Championship rounds.

He used movement and extra bounce with the new ball, striking in his third over. The 4/29 is included in his dated first-class aggregate because the snapshot came after the match. It should not be added again to the 493 wickets, but it gives a clear example of how his Sussex role translates into match impact.

Is Jaydev Unadkat still playing for Sussex?

Yes. Sussex signed Unadkat for the final eight rounds of its 2026 County Championship campaign, and he began that stint in June. The club described 2026 as his fourth consecutive season with Sussex, while an earlier announcement had called it a third consecutive year. His documented appearances in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 support the four-season description. The Glamorgan scorecard also confirms that the latest contract moved from an announcement into an actual first-team appearance.

Sussex is the primary current team shown on this page because the profile sits within the Sussex Sharks directory, but his contract is competition-specific. It does not replace his Saurashtra affiliation or his IPL place with Sunrisers Hyderabad. A county contract and an IPL retention can both be current because their seasons do not use the same roster system.

Why Unadkat's Sussex spells need season labels

Unadkat has joined Sussex for defined parts of four County Championship seasons rather than one uninterrupted full-season contract. He arrived for the closing stage in 2023, returned for five matches during the 2024 Division Two title campaign, played again in 2025 and signed for the final eight rounds of 2026. A county appearance total must therefore state its season and cutoff.

The season labels also prevent a title claim from drifting. Sussex won Division Two in 2024, when Unadkat took 22 wickets at 14.4, but the club played in Division One in 2025 and 2026. His seven-wicket match against Worcestershire belongs to 2025, while 4/29 against Glamorgan belongs to 2026. Combining those performances into one unnamed season would obscure both the competition level and the match chronology.

Jaydev Unadkat IPL career and 2017 peak

The official IPL profile lists 116 career matches and a debut in 2010. Unadkat's strongest season came in 2017, when he took 24 wickets at 13.41. That run included figures of 5/30 and his first IPL hat-trick. The performance made him one of the season's leading Indian seamers and led to a major Rajasthan Royals auction deal for 2018.

Unadkat has represented several IPL teams, including Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi, Rising Pune Supergiant, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians, Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 116-match figure is a league-wide career total, not a claim that all appearances came for his current franchise.

Jaydev Unadkat and Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2026

IPLT20 records that Unadkat took 11 wickets in the 2025 season at an average of 15.90 and was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 2026. The official retention list and current squad page both name him among the franchise's bowlers.

Retention confirms that Sunrisers kept his registration for the 2026 squad. It does not turn a prior season's 11 wickets into a 2026 return, and it does not prove that he played in every fixture. Match participation and new wickets still require the corresponding official scorecard.

How Unadkat's left-arm bowling has adapted

Unadkat is generally described as a left-arm medium-fast or left-arm medium bowler. In red-ball cricket, he can use angle, seam movement and sustained spells; in T20 cricket, the official IPL profile highlights his variations. Those descriptions fit different competition demands without changing his core bowling identity.

His records show the contrast. The 24-wicket IPL season and hat-trick reflect short-form wicket-taking, while 493 first-class wickets and 24 five-fors come from multi-innings cricket. Comparing them requires matches, overs and format rules, not just a single combined wicket number.

What changed in the Warwickshire match cutoff?

Unadkat began Sussex's County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston on 20 August 2026. In Sussex's first innings he made 13 not out from 14 balls, including two sixes. He then took 2/27 from 12.3 overs in Warwickshire's completed first innings, dismissing Vaansh Jani and Olly Hannon-Dalby.

Those completed innings move the reconciled first-class line to 140 matches, 2,217 runs and 493 wickets. The match was still in progress when this profile was checked on 22 August, so no second-innings bowling result is included and the career bowling average is withheld until the match record is complete.

How to read Jaydev Unadkat's career totals

Unadkat's four Tests are included in his 140 first-class matches and three Test wickets are included in the 493 first-class wickets. His eight ODIs form part of his broader List A career, while ten T20Is and 116 IPL matches sit within overall T20 cricket. Competition rows overlap with format-wide records.

The page therefore keeps India, first-class, IPL and county-season figures labelled. The international and first-class table carries an 21 August 2026 innings cutoff. Official BCCI, ICC, IPL and Sussex reports supply milestone and team context, allowing later performances to be added without double-counting a score already present in the career aggregate.

Jaydev Unadkat records

Jaydev Unadkat career statistics and records

Batting, bowling and fielding figures are kept separate by competition and format.

Test (Wikipedia, 18 July 2026)4matches

Batting

Runs: 36
High score: 14*
Average: 12.00
100s / 50s: 0/0

Bowling & fielding

Wickets: 3
Best bowling: 2/42
Average: 77.00
Balls: 474
Catches / stumpings: 3 catches; stumpings not listed
5w / 10w: 0 / 0

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

ODI (Wikipedia, 18 July 2026)8matches

Batting

Runs: 0
100s / 50s: 0/0

Bowling & fielding

Wickets: 9
Best bowling: 4/41
Average: 25.00
Balls: 342
Catches / stumpings: 1 catches; stumpings not listed
5w / 10w: 0 five-wicket hauls; ten-wicket hauls not listed

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

T20I (Wikipedia, 18 July 2026)10matches

Batting

Runs: 0
100s / 50s: 0/0

Bowling & fielding

Wickets: 14
Best bowling: 3/38
Average: 21.50
Balls: 208
Catches / stumpings: 3 catches; stumpings not listed
5w / 10w: 0 five-wicket hauls; ten-wicket hauls not listed

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

First-class (through Warwickshire first innings, 21 August 2026)140matches

Batting

Runs: 2,217
High score: 92
Average: 16.30
100s / 50s: 0/8

Bowling & fielding

Wickets: 493
Best bowling: 8/39
Balls: 22,828
Catches / stumpings: 58 catches; stumpings not listed
5w / 10w: 24 / 5

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

Career chronology

Debut and last listed match

India international career

Debut

Test debut against South Africa in December 2010

Last listed match

Four Tests, eight ODIs and ten T20Is in the 21 August 2026 innings cutoff

Sussex County Championship

Debut

First joined Sussex for the closing stage of the 2023 season

Last listed match

Returned with 4/29 against Glamorgan in June 2026

Indian Premier League

Debut

IPL debut in 2010

Last listed match

Retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2026

Career achievements

Career achievements and milestones

Reconciled first-class record: 493 wickets from 139 matches with best bowling of 8/39.
Took a competition-record 67 wickets as Saurashtra won the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy.
Returned to Test cricket after 12 years and two days, the longest 21st-century gap.
Took 4/29 on his June 2026 County Championship return for Sussex.
Official IPL record: 116 matches, including 24 wickets and a hat-trick in 2017.

Reader questions

Jaydev Unadkat FAQ

How old is Jaydev Unadkat?

Jaydev Unadkat was born on 18 October 1991 and was 34 on 22 August 2026.

What is Jaydev Unadkat's role?

Jaydev Unadkat is a left-arm medium-fast bowler who bats right-handed.

How many first-class wickets does Jaydev Unadkat have?

The 21 August 2026 innings cutoff lists 493 wickets from 140 first-class matches through Warwickshire's first innings on 21 August 2026 at an average of 22.90.

How many wickets did Jaydev Unadkat take in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy?

Unadkat took a competition-record 67 wickets and captained Saurashtra to its first Ranji Trophy title.

Is Jaydev Unadkat still playing for Sussex?

Yes. Sussex signed him for the final eight rounds of the 2026 County Championship, and he took 4/29 on his return against Glamorgan.

Which IPL team does Jaydev Unadkat play for?

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained Unadkat for IPL 2026. His official IPL profile lists 116 career matches across several franchises.

Conclusion

Jaydev Unadkat's career is much larger than his four-Test record. The stronger measure of his long-term impact is a 493-wicket first-class record, led by the 67-wicket Ranji Trophy title season and supplemented by productive late-season spells for Sussex.

In 2026, Unadkat remained active in both the County Championship and IPL. His 4/29 against Glamorgan confirmed his Sussex return, while Sunrisers Hyderabad retained him after an 11-wicket IPL 2025 season. Each competition is kept separate so his India, domestic and franchise achievements retain their correct scope.