Jalaj Saxena (Cricketer)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Jalaj Saxena

• Jalaj Saxena is an Indian all-round cricketer who represents Kerala in domestic cricket. A veteran of over 120 first-class matches, Jalaj Saxena is considered by many cricket experts as one of the best all-rounders in India’s domestic cricket.

• Jalaj was only eight years old when he started playing cricket. After passing grade four, he used to go to school only to appear for exams.

• Jalaj did not take any professional cricket coaching until the age of 17-18. Recalling his journey, Jalaj said,
  

  Initially, when I started playing cricket, it was me, my brother and my father. My father used to bowl at me, he used to take me different grounds. There was no actual coaching and actual coaches till the age of 17-18. Bhilai is a very small town and there was no proper coaching. So we used to play club cricket. My brother and I talked a lot about cricket, my father helped me a lot. No professional coaching.

• Jalaj’s brother, who is four years elder to him, has played domestic cricket for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for more than 10 years.

  

• Jalaj was selected in Madhya Pradesh domestic cricket team at the age of 19. On 17 December 2005, Jalaj Saxena made his debut in the domestic cricket in a Ranji Trophy match against Kerala.

• He came to limelight after his performances in 2012-13 Ranji Trophy. He amassed 769 runs at an average of 69.90 in the tournament. Consequently, he came to the notice of selectors and was selected in India A squad for a series against Australia A and New Zealand A. He was the highest wicket-taker in the series against Australia. He considers playing his first match for India A cricket team as his favourite on-field moment until now.

  

• Saxena kept his performance going and scored 545 runs and picked 35 wickets in the 2013-14 season of Ranji Trophy. His statistics in the tournament included three five-wicket hauls and two ten-wicket hauls. Consequently, he was awarded the Lala Ram award by BCCI for being the best domestic all-rounder in domestic cricket.

  

• In November 2015, Jalaj produced the second-best bowling figures in the history of Ranji Trophy. Playing the Railways team, he took 16 wickets for 154 runs in the match and helped steer Madhya Pradesh to the victory on the third day of the test match.

• Having played for Madhya Pradesh for more than 10 years, he switched to Kerala cricket ahead of 2015-2016 Ranji Trophy. Revealing the reason for his turn to Kerala, Saxena said,
  I was scoring runs and picking wickets for Madhya Pradesh. But I felt if I move to a smaller team (Kerala) and perform there and take them to elite level then I would be noticed more and get the much-needed recognition. Kerala being a smaller team if they achieve something big with me performing good I would get the recognition, so that was the main reason and I took some risks to get the recognition.

• Jalaj has won the Lala Amarnath award for being the best all-rounder in domestic cricket three times. He won the awards for his performances in 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 seasons of Ranji Trophy.

  

• In 2019, Jalaj became the first uncapped Indian cricket player to score 6000 first-class runs and pick up 300 wickets.

• Jalaj was the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy since 2015-16 to 2019-2020. The all-rounder even left behind bowlers on the list.

  

• Over the years, Jalaj has been bought by three IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians (for Rs. 90 lakh), Royal Challengers Bangalore (for Rs. 10 lakh), and Delhi Capitals (for Rs. 20 lakh), but he is yet to feature in a match of the cash-rich league.