Jayant Yadav joins Middlesex for final matches of County Championship

Jayant Yadav will replace Pieter Malan in the Middlesex unit.

Indian off-spinner Jayant Yadav will turn out for Middlesex County for the final four matches in the ongoing County Championship matches of the season. Yadav has played six tests and two ODIs for India since making his debut in 2016.

Yadav, has taken 16 wickets at 29.06 in six test matches for his country, the most recent of which came against Sri Lanka in March 2022. His best figures, 4 for 49, were against New Zealand in December 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

His best test performance, though, probably came during England's 2016–17 test visit, when he scored 104 runs while batting at No. 9 in the fourth test at Delhi and added 241 runs with the then-captain, Virat Kohli, to help his team win by an innings.

"I am honored and excited to join the prestigious Middlesex County Cricket Club”- Jayant Yadav

The 33-years-old off-spinner has more than 200 first-class wickets and will reinforce Middlesex after the departure of Pieter Malan. Yadav will be available for the county's final four matches of the red-ball season, starting with the trip to Chelmsford to face Essex on Monday (September 4).

"I am honoured and excited to join the prestigious Middlesex County Cricket Club for the upcoming Championship games and be a part of its rich cricketing history. I enjoyed my experience playing county cricket last year. I am eagerly looking forward to the new stint with Middlesex and contributing to the club's success," Yadav was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

In his first-class career to date, he has taken 205 wickets, with his best bowling figures of 7 for 58 for Haryana in the ranji trophy in 2019–20.

Middlesex's Director of Cricket, Alan Coleman, said: "With Pieter Malan returning home to South Africa, we wanted to bolster the squad with another quality signing ahead of the four crucial matches that lay ahead of us in September.

We feel that spin will be an important factor in September, and the opportunity to sign an international spinner of Jayant's quality was too good an opportunity to turn down. He brings us that extra bit of something you get from an international cricketer: experience, quality, and know-how all attributes that will prove hugely valuable to us in the coming games."

At the very bottom of the division one table, Middlesex is embroiled in a relegation struggle. Even though their competitors have played one more game, they are only three points ahead of Kent in ninth place heading into the last four weeks of the season.

After their match against Essex, they will travel to play Lancashire and Nottinghamshire, while Warwickshire will come to Lord's.