Being a spinning all-rounder in the same era as R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel has been a big disadvantage to Jalaj Saxena in regards to an India cap, though the 36-year-old continues to dream of representing his country one day.
Hailing from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Saxena is a right-handed spinner, who can bowl all off-breaks, leg-breaks, and googlies, and is an adept middle-order batter. Playing for Kerala now in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament, Saxena recently achieved the rare double of 6000 first-class runs and 400 wickets!
He also has over 2000 runs and over 100 wickets in List-A cricket.
However, despite his staggering records and consistency in domestic cricket, Jalaj Saxena hasn’t been given an India cap yet, majorly because of the established triumvirate of Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar, and now Washington Sundar ahead of him in the selectors’ eyes.
Plus, and it cannot be disregarded, lack of showing in the IPL – he has played only 1 IPL match, in 2021, in his career – has also been a big factor in Saxena not getting the kind of following and attention that other uncapped players get from their appearances in the IPL.
Saxena recently also missed out from the squads for the white-ball matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand and from the Test squad to face Australia despite the absence of Jadeja with the selectors preferring younger all-rounders in Sundar and Shahbaz to partner Axar.
Jalaj Saxena’s tweet has gone viral
After getting congratulatory messages on his 400th first-class wickets, en route his match-winning 8-wicket haul vs Services, Jalaj Saxena expressed gratitude, and also the all-rounder said he’s still dreaming on an India cap.
“Really grateful to cross 400+wickets and 6000+ runs mark. I hope i won’t remain uncapped forever. The dream is still alive,” Jalaj Saxena tweeted on Sunday.
Really grateful to cross 400+wickets and 6000+ runs mark. I hope i won’t remain uncapped forever. The dream is still alive ❤️ https://t.co/HED7ev9w0W
— Jalaj Saxena (@jalajsaxena33) January 15, 2023
