An economy rate of less than six runs per over in T20s, two first-class centuries including a double-hundred are figures that give a glimpse of Jayant Yadav’s abilities across formats. Talk to him about his trade, especially his batting and you will get modest replies from the Haryana and Delhi Daredevils cricketer.
“I don’t bat in the nets. I do love to bat in a match (though). I think it comes naturally. When you are batting you are not thinking about anything else. I am actually always calm. I get a lot of flak for that as well, not for being calm, but for not celebrating my wickets. I think it all accumulates and shows in my batting actually,” says the 26-year old.
Before he played his first game against Kings XI Punjab, his last effort with the bat came in the Irani Cup game for the Rest of India as they chased down a hefty target on the last day against Mumbai in March 2016.
Speaking about his game, Jayant adds, “My forte is days’ (multi-day) cricket. Off-spin and batting. But you need to evolve for T20. You have to update your game every year. Off late, I have been trying to work on my batting, especially for this format. If I am batting, I would be doing so lower down the order and (should) be able to hit (the big shots). So I have been working on that. Also, I have been trying to work on certain number of variations. It’s in the pipeline and it’s a challenge. I like it when you are out of your comfort zone, I really want to explore that territory. I really don’t know how I will do, but that’s the excitement I guess.”
Although the pace friendly Lahli is his home ground, the off-spinner has 110 wickets from 40 first-class games and is keenly working on his craft in the DD outfit. With the likes of captain Zaheer Khan and TA Sekhar around to give inputs, Jayant is trying to make the most of the opportunity.
The inputs from the former India pacer are something he is keen to internalise. Speaking about his DD captain, Jayant says, “Zak bhai doesn’t go into the technical part. He reads the batsman, the game really well and sets the field accordingly. He plays with the field. With Zak bhai it is a great learning curve for everybody. For youngsters like us, if you can understand how he reads the game (that will be a biggest benefit). It is a quality which you can’t teach to somebody, (but) if you can just imbibe (it). With Zak bhai it’s about (understanding) why did you keep this field, how did this happen trying to understand his thinking it is more of that.
“With Sekhar sir it’s about the technical inputs. It is also about talking to your peers as well, like Mishy (Amit Mishra) bhai, (Imran) Tahir, (Pawan) Negi , (Shahbaz) Nadeem and understanding what they were thinking in that situation,” he adds.
“At the end of the day, T20 is all about how you plan your over. Every ball has to be planned. You can’t let the batsman chase you. You have to keep the batsman thinking. Tahir bhai is brilliant at that. He plans his over brilliantly. I am trying to learn a lot of things from everybody. Take something that they has been doing so well for long time,” he says while talking about the game.
While he is now consciously working on his craft, cricket ‘happened’ for a young Jayant whose father too played the game in his younger days. “I started playing cricket at a very early age with my brothers in the ‘gully’,” mentions the off-spinner conversationally while going on to tell the story of bowling off-spin. “I started as a leg-spinner, but the funny story is that I have two first cousins who were also leg-spinners so they said it’s not allowed. You cannot have three leg-spinners in the family. At that point I really thought that was a thing and I turned to off-spin.” And he quickly goes on to mention that there was no coach or no such script that decided he should change his skill.
Speaking about his journey further, Jayant says “Luckily my dad too used to play cricket, so he took me to an academy in Delhi where everything started. The first tournament match in Delhi that I played was for U- 11. I bowled well, but I didn’t really have a thing for cricket at that time. I wasn’t very eager to go to practice every Saturday-Sunday. Our club used to practice only on Saturday – Sunday and the commute was long and I had to use public transport so I really shied away from that. But after the first tournament that I played, I really bowled well and I thought, ‘hang on, I do like it and from there on it started and I had to go every weekend.
“Then I did well at the U-19, played U-22 and around the age of 21, made Ranji Trophy debut (in 2011). I always thought that I didn’t have what it takes to be a Ranji trophy player because I wasn’t selected (earlier). But when I played my first match against Gujarat, which was a crucial game as whoever lost would be relegated (plate –elite system). It was a good wicket and (Amit Mishra) Mishy bhai was the captain then, I realised that I do have some art that I can if understand it, nurture it and think over it (then I can contribute). Because, earlier it used to be very mechanical; come bowl for the love of bowling. I still love bowling, but after that I realised that you have to think about it everything can’t be mechanical,” he adds.
Jayant has been diligently working with the video analysts, coaches and others in his state team as well to evolve. “In Lahli, there is little opportunity to bowl so I have to prepare more for away games. You try to figure out where the batsman is uncomfortable so that you pepper that area. Bowling is all about not letting the batsman play where he wants. Take him out of his comfort zone and make him play where he doesn’t want to play unless and until you are getting spin bounce. All those factors also matter. You have to take into consideration the wicket, the situation and the batsman while planning.
“I get nervous before every match. I think if the nervous energy wasn’t there I wouldn’t have prepared for that match,” he mentions.
And one such nervous game was against Mumbai in Sachin Tendulkar’s last first-class season. “We were definitely nervous. And that year Ajay Jadeja came in (as captain for Haryana) and he handled us brilliantly. We were a young side and the match was telecast live as well.”
Looking back on the game and bowling to the batting maestro, he recalls, “I got (Ajinkya) Rahane out and Tendulkar took his time to come in. I was on the top of my mark, and like you freeze for a while that was that moment for me. After that you get involved (with the game) and you go on. It was a great experience and we were lucky, the experience is something that we will cherish.”
So has playing in the IPL helped him in the domestic circuit? Jayant replies affirmatively. “In domestic cricket you only get to meet a certain number of players, but when you play IPL, you get to meet somebody different (every time) who plays the game differently, thinks differently. So it is all about learning something that you can imbibe and use in your game. A different situation may bring out something different from you because when you are starting at the top of your mark you may realise that you are calm in the situation you can handle this. Every year brings out something.”
Speaking about the takeaway from being part of an IPL franchise he says, “It has forced me to think about my bowling differently. IPL has pushed me in a way to evolve as a bowler am still in the process. It is about challenging myself over different things.”
Jayant, who has been working on the different aspects of his cricket says, “By the end of the ongoing season of IPL, I really want to be confident about my variations because that is one thing that now I think it is really important. You have to have variations because you can’t be predictable. I still I can’t be prepared by (completely) the end of the season, but I will be confident about bowling my variations and then continue to work on that.”
While he works to better himself professionally, Jayant cherishes the friendships he has formed because of the game as well. “You just make friends (while playing the game) and I am really glad not just because of cricket but the friendships, the bond that I share with lot players like (Yuzvendra) Chahal, Harshal Patel and others, so it’s really great,” he says.
