Jalaj Saxena

[vvvslaxman]

Looking around the world we see a lot of 35 plus spinners are making the play

 

35 year old Maharaj

36 year old Harmer

39 year old Noman Ali

38 year old Lyon (who is experienced anyway)

 

WHy can't India explore the possibility of using one of these very experienced domestic spinners on a short term basis. IN this case Saxena is an accomplished batsman too.  He has over 7000 plus runs iwht 14 centuries at an average of 34. What do we gotta lose? May be the experience may be serviceable. I have seen his videos. He bowls at 74 mph typically. An alien concept for our current set of bowlers. 

 

One more thing he can bowl leg break and googly too.

 

[tweaker]

Jalaj Saxena has been criminalally  neglected.

 

An opener and an  offspin bowler. 

 

Now we Select players from IPL and Hope they should cope with test cricket  

[vvvslaxman]

4 minutes ago, tweaker said:

Jalaj Saxena has been criminalally  neglected.

 

An opener and an  offspin bowler. 

 

Now we Select players from IPL and Hope they should cope with test cricket  

 

Purely because of his age and team he represents is the reason why he is being neglected. I think Shashi Tharoor or someone mentioned about him in one of his tweet.  He has tremendous experience. Very old school. As a matter of fact old school spinners who bowl slow with a lot of revs are ruling the roost in Tests. This guy belongs to that category. There is no harm in experimenting. But who will even contemplate about this? That is the big question. Someone like Ashwin can bring that up. But he retired at the age of 38. So there will be age bias.

[tapandrun]

Its not just him, there are many like him who does not play for 5/6 top domestic sides and who are not selected for IPL and if selected were not given longer rope.

Paras dogra, Bhawne, bhui, etc...

[vvvslaxman]

6 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Its not just him, there are many like him who does not play for 5/6 top domestic sides and who are not selected for IPL and if selected were not given longer rope.

Paras dogra, Bhawne, bhui, etc...

Who will shed light on the modern day Shivalkar, Rajinder singh Ghai.

[tapandrun]

These days selection is  done in 2 ways --either through IPLs or if some1 has a record breaking domestic season. There is other way.

These consistent performers does not cut into any of it 

[vvvslaxman]

8 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

These days selection is  done in 2 ways --either through IPLs or if some1 has a record breaking domestic season. There is other way.

These consistent performers does not cut into any of it 

 

Yea.. even the ones they went after in domestic were eitehr having some backing or all rounders. Jayant Yadav is a case in point. 

[tweaker]

38 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

These days selection is  done in 2 ways --either through IPLs or if some1 has a record breaking domestic season. There is other way.

These consistent performers does not cut into any of it .

Now selection is mostly done through IPL ie Sai,Reddy,Rana,Paddikal.

 

If some has record breaking domestic season ,he has to wait for many season and if selected, dumped at the first opportunity  ie Sarfaraz 

[tapandrun]

14 minutes ago, tweaker said:

Now selection is mostly done through IPL ie Sai,Reddy,Rana,Paddikal.

 

If some has record breaking domestic season ,he has to wait for many season and if selected, dumped at the first opportunity  ie Sarfaraz 

Do not think Padikal and Reddy had a good IPL season 2025 -- Padikal scored 250-300, Reddy was below 200.

 

 

 

 

 

[singhvivek141]

57 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Do not think Padikal and Reddy had a good IPL season 2025 -- Padikal scored 250-300, Reddy was below 200.

 

 

Reddy had an awesome 2024 IPL...that helped his case.

Paddikkal scored some runs heavily in List A...as our selectors are blind. They assumed now he is good for all formats.

 

 

[tapandrun]

6 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

 

Reddy had an awesome 2024 IPL...that helped his case.

Paddikkal scored some runs heavily in List A...as our selectors are blind. They assumed now he is good for all formats.

 

 

Yes, reddy was good in 2024 ipl 300+ runs .

Paddikal does not look good vs any kind of decentish bowling line-up

[Vk1]

1 hour ago, tapandrun said:

Yes, reddy was good in 2024 ipl 300+ runs .

Paddikal does not look good vs any kind of decentish bowling line-up

Padikkal is 100% quota pick

[diga]

@vvvslaxman

 

 

"Surprisingly" both of us were the selectors and you were the chairman. 

 

https://t.co/q8kHY6rkkv

pic.twitter.com/IC5uyntLTB

— TommyVercetti (@VercettiTo30011) October 15, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Very sad commentary about selection in Indian cricket and story of journeyman cricketer Jalaj Saxena 

Edited December 2, 2025 by diga

[Lord]

We should have played him when we played Jayant Yadav. Also tried in low impact series like BD,WI.

 

But his time is gone. Sundar is doing decent enough as spin AR as long he has a defined role

[vvvslaxman]

1 hour ago, diga said:

@vvvslaxman

 

 

"Surprisingly" both of us were the selectors and you were the chairman. 

 

https://t.co/q8kHY6rkkv

 

 

 

 

 

Very sad commentary about selection in Indian cricket and story of journeyman cricketer Jalaj Saxena 

This innings came this year I think. He counter attacked when they were down and  out.

[singhvivek141]

Jalaj Saxena evolved after 30s...he was a decent performer earlier, but nothing earth shattering.

He became a force post his 30s, but earlier by then we had Ashwin Jadeja combo to take the things forward.

 

Plus I also heard that he had some issues with MPCA (wc to be corrected)...probably ruffled the feathers of someone in power, post which he moved to different team.

 

And, the IPL is another metric where he failed to make an impact. Infact IPL has played a key role in shaping our spinners. There are very few off spinners left in IPL, even the traditional leggies are becoming a rarity.

 

Fast spinners or SLA's are the flavour of the season.

[Sooda]

It's a good idea but will never happen 

 

He was unfortunate to be in the same era as Ashwin 

 

Saransh Jain is probably a realistic old school pick . Done well for A team too and can bat. May well be better than Sundar at home with the ball

[tweaker]

34 minutes ago, Sooda said:

He was unfortunate to be in the same era as Ashwin 

 

He was not in competition with Ashwin,he was a opener who could bowl off spin.

 

Now we have 3 wk batsman, 2 left arm slow bowlers ,batting in lower order.

 

 

[Sooda]

4 minutes ago, tweaker said:

He was not in competition with Ashwin,he was a opener who could bowl off spin.

 

Now we have 3 wk batsman, 2 left arm slow bowlers ,batting in lower order.

 

 

 

Both off spin bowling all rounders then 

 

Was Saxena going to get in on the back of his batting alone ? Esp as an opener? I don't know if he was good enough 

[Chakdephatte]

Yes, Jayant Yadav. He was terrible. Made a career with a century at no. 9 but never contributed with ball. We tried a Shahbaz Nadeem who looked ordinary at debut. Should try Jajaj for sure