Kerala Cricket League | Twitter in splits as Jalaj Saxena mourns elimination by bowling on wrong pitch

T‌he semi-finalists of Kerala Cricket League were confirmed in the penultimate group stage game on Thursday when Aries Kollam Sailors comprehensively crushed Alleppey Ripples at the Greenfield International Stadium to secure a top-four finish. The Ripples had a huge mountain to climb even before the game began as they not only needed a win to qualify but also a huge margin to go with it, in order to gulf the net run rate game with their rivals. However, once three wickets from Amal and two for Pavan Raj restricted the side to 137/9, the dream was all but lost. However, skipper Jalaj Saxena led the fightback from the front by dispatching Bharath Soorya early on and conceding just 14 in the first two overs. Yet, by the time he came back for his third in the second half of the innings, the Sailors had already officially qualified, and needed less than 50 to end with a statement. But more embarassment remained in store for the 38-year-old Sailors captain.

On the final ball of the 13th over, Jalaj trundled in from over the wicket as usual but lost all grip on the Kookaburra as he jumped on the mark and sent it floating towards the heavens. All eyes at the venue ceremoniously tracked down the white rock while it hung in the air for a lifetime before landing two practice pitches away an bouncing twice on the deck in the follow through. Saxena was still processing what had occurred when the umpire added salt to his wounds by signalling a no-ball, thus completely breaking the domestic veteran. To make matters worse, Rahul Sharma needed no second invitation to dispatch the ensuing full-toss over Saxena's head for an effortless maximum, thereby bringing a disastrous end to the campaign for the off-spinner.

Twitter, however, chose to see the funny side of things.

Wow! Hahaha!

Good one!

Really?

That was sad!

So funny!

Can't believe!

Hahaha!