Jayant Yadav: 10 things you need to know about him

Jayant Yadav has been called up to the India Test side to cover for the sick Ishant Sharma, and no one will be happier than the 26-year-old right arm off-break bowler from Haryana. Yadav, who played for Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2016, earned a call to the national side on the back of an impressive domestic year.

He picked up 19 wickets in the Ranji Trophy last season and another 8 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to emerge as one of the top performers for his state side. After a decent outing in the domestic circuit in the 2015-16 season, the off-spinner got an opportunity to showcase his potential in the Irani Cup where he made the opportunity count, picking up two four-wicket hauls in a winning cause against Mumbai.

Here are some of the things that you need to know about Jayant Yadav:

#1. Jayant Yadav made his first-class debut for Haryana in 2011 at the age of 21. He picked up six wickets in that match, helping his side to a big win against Gujarat.

#2. He rose to the scene in the 2014-15 season when he picked up 33 wickets in the Ranji Trophy and played couple of “Tests” for India A also in that year.

#3. Yadav is more than a useful batsman as he has already scored a double ton in First Class cricket. He scored 211, which was also his maiden hundred, against Karnataka, and shared a record-breaking stand of 392 for the eighth wicket with Amit Mishra.

#4. He started the 2015-16 Ranji season with his second first-class hundred while batting at No. 4, in a partnership with his new Haryana team-mate Virender Sehwag

#5. Yadav's fifth match in first-class cricket was against a touring England XI in Ahmedabad, where he took four wickets in the first innings, including that of Alastair Cook, who is just a few runs away from becoming the first Englishman to score 10000 runs in Tests.

#6. He played only three matches in his debut IPL season in 2015 but showed he could be economical as he finished with an economy rate of 4.14.

#7. Once in an interview, Yadav confessed how on occasions when he came back to the hotel rooms, he found himself running up and bowl beside the plush bed.

#8. Yadav also talked about what he prefers the most in an interview. He said, “My forte is days’ (multi-day) cricket. Off-spin and batting.”

#9. Jayant credits his father for taking him to the academy in Delhi where he started to learn the basics of the game. His father also used to play cricket in his younger days.

#10. According to him, he used to bowl leg-spin when he was very young. But how did he turn to off-spin then? Yadav shared a funny story about that in an interview when he said, “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.”

Yadav was amongst the new names who earned a call-up for the Zimbabwe tour as the Indian team management decided to rest quite a few regular players. He surely will look to make an impact if he gets a chance.