MIRPUR: He had manifested that moment in his mind by visualising it over 1000 times and when it finally happened after 12 long years of wait, Jaydev Unadkat was both relieved and delighted after Zakir Hasan became his maiden Test wicket.
Unadkat, who made his Test debut against South Africa at Centurion on December 16 in 2010, was named in the playing XI in the second Test against Bangladesh here on Thursday.
On his Test debut, which happened a dozen of winters back, Unadkat had gone for more than 100 runs in 26 wicketless overs with Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers scoring hundreds and Jacques Kallis hitting a double century.
"I did manifest it, I visualised it more than 1000 times and there was a moment when I actually missed playing with the red ball," Unadkat told bcci.tv.
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He ended the first innings with the figures of 2/50 as India bowled out Bangladesh for 227 on an opening day.
"I went blank when I took that wicket, I have visualised this moment maybe 1000 times in between when I played the first Test and now," Unadkat said.
"I didn't get a wicket back then and that was the talk every time people talked about me getting an opportunity again for the Indian team."
In between the two matches, Unadkat missed more than a century of Tests (118), the second-highest in world cricket. Only England's Gareth Batty (142) has missed more matches between two games in the history of Test cricket.
"Honestly, it wasn't just about getting that Test recall, but it was also about getting to play the Ranji Trophy season again," he said.
"All these years I have developed my skills with the red ball. So that I get that confidence whenever I'm on the field," he added.