Indian all-rounder Jalaj Saxena joined an elite group of first-class cricketers as he scored a century and picked up an eight-wicket haul for the second time in his career.
Now playing for the state of Kerala, Saxena scored 133 in the first-innings of the domestic Ranji Trophy match against Andhra before picking up 8-45 in the second innings to help secure a nine-wicket victory for his side.
It was the second time in as many years that Saxena had managed such a feat. Last year, Saxena scored an unbeaten 105 and picked up 8-85 against Rajasthan.
A century & an 8-wicket haul in a first-class match on multiple occasions:
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) November 15, 2018
WG Grace (3)
G Giffen (3)
J Briggs (2)
FA Tarrant (2)
FE Woolley (2)
JALAJ SAXENA (2)
The game vs Andhra was Saxena's 102nd FC while the remaining five players featured in over 250 FC games. #RanjiTrophy
Interestingly, Saxena became only the sixth player in the history of cricket to score a century and pick up an eight-wicket haul on more than one occasion.
Legendary cricketer WG Grace is one of only two players to have achieved the feat three times.
Despite a fine first-class record of 5,654 runs and 273 wickets, Saxena hasn’t been considered for the senior Indian team. He has won the Lala Amarnath Award for the best all-rounder in domestic cricket three times in the last four years but has been forced to watch other all-rounders like Vijay Shankar, Pankaj Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Jayant Yadav, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik and Krunal Pandya get India call-ups across formats.
