Kerala's veteran pacer Jalaj Saxena on November 6 created history as he became the first all-rounder in Ranji Trophy history to achieve a double of 6,000 runs and 400 wickets. Saxena who made his last Indian Premier League (IPL) appearance for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in 2021 edition achieved the feat with Nitish Rana's wicket on Day 1 of the clash against Uttar Pradesh at St Xavier's College Ground, Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram.
Saxena bags fifer
Saxena The Kerala spinner ran through Uttar Pradesh batting lineup. He broke the opening partnership in the 18th over with Uttar Pradesh captain Aryan Juyal's wicket. A few overs later, he dismissed the other opener Madhav Kaushik. Siddharth Yadav became his third victim of the day. In the 34th over of the innings, he got Rana stumped for a 46-ball 25. In the 40th over, he completed his fifer with veteran Piyush Chawla's wicket. This is his 31st fifer in first-class cricket.
Saxena is the 13th bowler in Ranji Trophy history to take 400 or more wickets. He made his first-class debut in 2005 for Madhya Pradesh. Before moving to Kerala in the 2016-17 season, he bagged 159 wickets and scored 4,041 runs for Madhya Pradesh. The veteran spinner is Kerala's second-highest wicket-taker in this format of the game. He is only second to KN Ananthapadmanabhan. Meanwhile, Saxena is nearing the 2,000-run mark in Ranji Trophy for Kerala as well.
Last year, Saxena entered the elite list of Indian cricketers as he completed a double of 9,000 runs and 600 wickets in domestic across formats. Only three Indian players -- Vinoo Mankad, Madan Lal and Parvez Rasool -- had achieved the feat before Saxena.
More legends in Saxena's sight
He is set to surpass several bowlers on the list of most wickets in Ranji Trophy history. Bishan Singh Bedi (403 wickets), Sairaj Bahutule (403 wickets), Pankaj Singh (409 wickets), Shahbaz Nadeem (416 wickets), VV Kumar (418 wickets) are not far away from Saxena's reach. The top spot belongs to Rajinder Goel (637 wickets) followed by S Venkataraghavan (530 wickets), Sunil Joshi (479 wickets), R Vinay Kumar (442 wickets), Narendra Hirwani (441 wickets) and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (437 wickets).
