Jalaj Saxena


Jalaj Sahai Saxena is an Indian cricketer who plays as an all-rounder for Kerala. A right-hand batsman and off break bowler, he has also represented the India A and Central Zone cricket team.
Saxena has batted at various positions but usually opens the batting. In 2015 he registered the second-best bowling figures in the history of Ranji Trophy. The Madhya Pradesh and India A allrounder, has signed one-year contract with Kerala as a professional player for the 2016-17 season. He has emerged as one of the best all-rounders in domestic cricket and was awarded the Lala Amarnath Award for best all-rounder by BCCI in January 2016. His brother Jatin Saxena is also a first-class cricketer who plays for Madhya Pradesh.

Domestic career

Saxena scored 769 runs at an average of 69.90 in the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy including two centuries. He was included in the India A team that played against the touring Australian team in February 2013, and scored 30 not out and took five wickets including the wickets of Test batsmen Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Ed Cowan. Against New Zealand A in August 2013, he had figures of 6/103.
In the 2013–14 Ranji Trophy, Saxena scored 545 runs at an average of 41.92 with a top-score of 194, and took 35 wickets at an average of 19 including three five-wicket hauls and two ten-wicket hauls to finish among the top wicket-takers of the season.
In the 2014–15 season, Saxena hit three centuries and amassed 768 runs at an average of 45.17. In a match against Tamil Nadu, he scored 144 and then took 4/74 and 3/109 to win the man of the match. He was part of the Central Zone team that won the 2014–15 Duleep Trophy in which he scored 110 in the semifinal against North Zone and 71 in the final against South Zone, and also picked wickets.
Saxena continued his impressive all-round performance in 2015–16 Ranji Trophy, scoring 530 runs at an average of 44.16 with a top-score of 124 and taking 46 wickets at an average of 20 including four five-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket haul.
In November 2015, Saxena recorded match figures of 16 for 154 in against Railways. He took eight wickets for 96 runs in the first innings and eight wickets for 58 runs in the second innings. These are the second-best figures in the history of the Ranji Trophy.
In the first match of the 2015–16 Vijay Hazare Trophy, opening the innings, Saxena scored a run-a-ball 133 against Saurashtra in a 300-plus runchase.
He was the leading wicket-taker in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy, with 44 dismissals. In July 2018, he was named in the squad for India Green for the 2018–19 Duleep Trophy. He was the leading run-scorer for Kerala in the group-stage of the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy, with 479 runs in seven matches.
In August 2019, he was named in the India Blue team's squad for the 2019–20 Duleep Trophy. In the second match of the tournament, he completed the double of scoring 6,000 runs and taking 300 wickets in first-class cricket. In October 2019, he was named in India C's squad for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy.

IPL career

Saxena was signed up by the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians in 2013. He remained with the Mumbai Indians until the 2014 season. At the 2015 IPL auction, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for 10 lakh.
In December 2018, he was bought by the Delhi Capitals in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League. He was released by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2020 IPL auction.