Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer is one of the legends of Indian domestic cricket and unsurprisingly, hails from Mumbai. As of March 2013, he is the highest run-scorer in the Ranji and Irani Trophy and also has the highest number of FC hundreds to his name. A right-handed opening batsman, Jaffer made his debut in the 1996/97 season after plundering runs at school level cricket on the maidans of Mumbai, one of them including a 400 not out as a 15 year old.

Right from the start of his career, Jaffer did not escape comparisons with legendary (and later tainted) Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin. Both were right handers who were in possession of silken wrists and loved working the field on the leg side. After a few prolific seasons in the Ranji Trophy, Jaffer was inducted into the India side against the visiting South Africans in 2000. The Proteas bowling line-up included fear-inducing names like Allan Donald and Jaffer, who had to face their brunt with the new ball, could manage just 46 runs from 4 innings and was dropped.

The next chance that Jaffer got was a couple of seasons later in 2002, understandably after piling on a mountain of runs in domestic cricket, when India toured West Indies. A couple of fifties ensured that he earned a ticket on the flight to England, but was once again dropped 2 Tests later.

Two things remained a regular feature in Jaffer's career: In and out of the Indian Test side in a gap of 2-3 years and consistently scaling peaks in the Ranji Trophy. This time, after a gap of three years, he got a look-in against Pakistan, but failed to make the playing XI. However in the next series against Andrew Flintoff's England, he got a chance in the 1st Test at Nagpur in March 2006. Jaffer capitalised immediately, scoring 81 and 100. The 2006-07 season would go on to be a watershed in his career as Jaffer hit a rich vein of form. In all he managed 5 hundreds and 7 fifties in a stretch of 19 Tests which included a majestic 212 in St John's Antigua in the 2nd innings which eventually helped India save the Test. Along with Dinesh Karthik, he formed a solid opening combination in the victorious Test series against England, which came immediately after India's infamous first round exit from the 50 over World Cup in 2007. A second double hundred came against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Kolkata Test in 2007. It looked like Jaffer had cemented his place in the Indian set-up. But things were too good to be true.

In 2008 came the IPL and it changed the way fans and selectors looked at cricket. As far as Jaffer was concerned, the centuries, runs and slip catches kept registering, but only in the scorebooks. He was deemed 'too slow' and 'old' by selectors who preferred to brood in youngsters. His non-selection was compounded by the fact that the Sehwag-Gambhir pair had a prolific run. Jaffer was a part of an IPL side too, the Bangalore franchise , but could manage only a few noteworthy scores.

The clamor for Jaffer's inclusion was raised to a fever-pitch after India lost 1-2 to England in 2012/13 at home and it co-incided with Jaffer being the top-scorer in the Ranji Trophy, which Mumbai won for the 40th time in Ranji Trophy history. There was more than just a crevice in the opening slot: Gambhir and Sehwag were going through their leanest patches. A century in the Irani Trophy match just before the selection for the 4 match Test series against Australia did up his stakes and there were whispers that Jaffer had made it. But when the final team was announced, he lost out to Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, the former hadn't even scored just about half the runs he had in the Ranji season.

As always has been the case with Jaffer scored heavily at the 2013-14 Ranji season as well, becoming the second highest run-getter for his side Mumbai with 582 runs. However, despite 3 hundreds and a fifty, a season average in the mid 30s is a shade lesser by Jaffer's standards. With age not on his side, on a miracle can bring Jaffer back into the national fold.

by Cricbuzz Staff - March 2014