Pradeep Jain completes 300 scalps

NEW DELHI, November 3: Haryana's left-arm spinner Pradeep Jain achieved another landmark in his illustrious Ranji Trophy career, spanning ov...

NEW DELHI, November 3: Haryana’s left-arm spinner Pradeep Jain achieved another landmark in his illustrious Ranji Trophy career, spanning over a decade, when he claimed his 300th wickets in the national championships during the North Zone league match against Himachal at Una last weekend. With his seven-wicket haul in the match, Jain has taken his tally of wickets to 305.

He has joined over 20 others who have taken 300 or more wickets. Jain, incidentally is only the third bowler from Haryana to have joined the 300-plus club. Only Rajinder Goel, who leads the field with 640 wickets and Sarkar Talwar (345) from Haryana have achieved the feat before. Kapil Dev, who played very few Ranji games during his international career, finished with 137 wickets.

Jain, perhaps, is among the few if not the only player to have been part of two national championships winning teams. He was a member of the Madan Lal-led Delhi team which beat Haryana in the 1985-86 Ranji final at Delhi. Pradeep Jain quit Delhi and joined Haryana and played his part in the team winning the title under Kapil Dev in 1990-91.

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Jain, a product of the National Stadium training centre in the Capital, has so far played around 75 Ranji matches, both for Delhi and Haryana. He has claimed 10 or more wickets four times and five wickets in an innings 25 times. His best bowling effort has been 15 wickets against Himachal in 1993-94 at Bhiwani.

In the last season, Jain claimed 44 wickets to be fourth among top wicket-takers. His effort was 11 behind highest wicket-taker Rajesh Chauhan who had 55 scalps.