An off-spinner who showed sparks of an all rounder in making

Jayant Yadav was handed test cap by noted all-rounder Ravi Shastri in the Vishakhapatnam test against England. The debut came at the expense of experienced leggie Amit Mishra.

Though he was inducted into the team as an off-spinner but he also showed his skills with the bat, digging in against some talented England spinners and fast bowlers who targeted him with the short ball. Yadav chipped in with valuable knocks of 35 and 27 in the first and second innings respectively.

Jayant had more tricks up his sleeves. After showing his prowess with the willow Jayant struck hard with the ball. He claimed four wickets including the dismissal of Ben Stokes with his sharp delivery that spun past the stroke player uprooting his stumps.

India won the Visakhapatnam Test by 246 runs. Jayant had had fair share in this win both with the bat and the ball, signing off with three wickets in the second innings.

Twenty-six year old tall off-spinner from Haryana has been on BCCI’s radar since 2014. He first rose to prominence in 2014-15, when he began the season with a six-wicket haul following it up with 13 wickets against Saurashtra in Rajkot.

He was rewarded with selection for the India A squad for the home series against South Africa A and Bangladesh A last year. Jayant earned a berth in the India A squad for the tour of Australia in July-August this year after his season-ending performance in March.

Twenty-six year old Jayant Yadav lost his mother in a plane crash when he was only nine. He was brought up by his foster mother Jyoti Yadav who encouraged and inspired Jayant to follow his passion and fulfil his dreams of playing for the country.

At the end of the fifth day of Visakhapatnam Test, Jayant was among the playing eleven who struck a pose for that picture-perfect frame of the winning team alongside his capable team mate, off-spinner and all-rounder R Ashwin.