Jalaj Saxena on Wednesday established a new Ranji Trophy record as he became the first player in the history of the tournament to achieve the 6000 runs and 400 wickets double. (More Cricket News)
The veteran all-rounder achieved this massive feat during Kerala's fourth-round Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh which began Wednesday. Nitish Rana's dismissal, Saxena's fourth scalp of the match, helped the veteran reach the historic landmark of 400 wickets. He had reached 6000 Ranji runs during Kerala's third round match against Bengal.
The off-spinning allrounder soon got his fifth wicket of the innings as well and Kerala dismantled the UP batting line-up for just 162 on the first day of the Round 4 match of both the sides.
Saxena's five-wicket haul also saw him match the record for fifers against most number of Ranji teams. He has now taken five or more wickets in an innings against 18 oppositions, equalling the all time Ranji Trophy record with Pankaj Singh. Saxena, the highest wicket-taker in the tournament among active players, is also only the 13th bowler in Ranji history to take 400 wickets.
Overall, it was the 29th five-wicket haul for the off-spinner who before playing for Kerala also plied his trade for Madhya Pradesh. Saxena made his First Class debut in 2005 and played for Madhya Pradesh till 2016-17 season after which he switched to Kerala.
Saxena, last season, became only the fourth player in the history of Indian domestic cricket to achieve the double of 9000 runs and 600 wickets across formats.
Most wickets in Ranji Trophy history
637 – Rajinder Goel
530 – S Venkataraghavan
479 – Sunil Joshi
442 – R Vinay Kumar
441 – Narendra Hirwani
437 – Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
418 – VV Kumar
416 – Shahbaz Nadeem
409 – Pankaj Singh
405 – Sairaj Bahutule
403 – Bishan Singh Bedi
401 – Utpal Chatterjee
401* -Jalaj Saxena
After Saxena's fifer helped Kerala bowl UP out for 162, Kerala had reached 82 for the loss of three wickets at the close of play on the opening day.
