Stats: Kerala qualifies for the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals for the first time

Kerala’s dream of making it to the final eight finally came true after they defeated Haryana by an innings and 8 runs registering their 5th outright win of the season and sealing the 2nd spot in the Group C with 31 points. Previously, Kerala made it to the top 15 in the Super League format in 1996/97 and the Pre-Quarters in the 1995/96 season. All-round efforts of Jalaj Saxena and Sanju Samson’s form in big games played a crucial role in Kerala’s success under their new coach Dave Whatmore.

Here we look at the Kerala’s highlights in this Ranji Trophy season so far:

1 – With 184 runs and 10 wickets in the game against Team Rajasthan, Jalaj Saxena became the first Kerala player with 100+ runs and 10+ wickets in a Ranji Trophy match. Saxena is also only the 2nd Kerala player after KN Ananthapadmanabhan to score a century and pick a 5-fer in a Ranji game. The former Kerala player took 6/99 and scored 200 in an innings against Orissa in 1996/97.

2 – Jalaj Saxena is only the 2nd Kerala player to score 300+ runs and take 30+ wickets in a single Ranji Trophy season after Bhaskaran Ramprakash in 1994/95 season where he scored 365 runs and picked 30 wickets. Saxena made 482 runs and picked took 38 wickets in this season so far.

3 – Saxena’s all-round effort of 105* and 8/85 against Team Rajasthan is only the 3rd instance in Ranji Trophy where a player scored a century and took 8-fer in a game. CT Sarwate in 1945/46 and Ravinder Pandit in 1986/87 achieved this feat before Jalaj.

5 – Number of outright wins for Kerala in this season. These are the joint most number of outright wins for them in a single season. Kerala won five in 2002/03 season and three in the 1996/97 season.

38 – Jalaj Saxena’s 38 wickets are the most by any player in this Ranji Trophy season so far. These are also the joint 3rd most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season for Kerala. Karaparambil Monish bagged 49 wickets in 2015/16 season while Bhaskaran Ramprakash took 41 in 1996/97 season. In 2002/03 season, KN Ananthapadmanabhan also took 38 for Kerala.

577 – Sanju Samson’s 577 runs are the most among the Kerala batsmen in this season. These are also the most Samson has piled up in a single Ranji Trophy season surpassing his 530 runs in the 2013/14 season.