Biography

The first Leicester-born Asian to represent his county, Jigar Naik topped the national first-class bowling averages in 2010, thanks to a brilliant and experienced mentor in the form of teammate and spin bowling coach, Claude Henderson.

A right-arm off-spinner who generates decent bounce and turn, Naik made his first-class debut against West Indies A in 2006 and since then, has never looked back. He became Leicestershire's most improved uncapped player in the 2009 season, the year that also saw his maiden first-class century in a match-saving situation against Derbyshire. The fact that he bounced back from an injury to score that ton was itself commendable. The following season, he not only topped the bowling average charts with 35 wickets at 17.59, but also received the 'John Josephs Award', sharing it with teammate James Taylor. Naik impressed with a 7-wicket haul at The Oval that year, which was an excellent showing of how well Henderson had mentored him. The duo share tremendous rapport on and off the field, and that was evident from the number of Championship wickets they took between them – 87.

A broken arm could not deter Naik from scaling the heights of success, and he signed a new two-year deal with the county in 2009.