Quick guide:
Wasim Jaffer
An icon of Indian cricket, an underrated gem and a living legend of red-ball cricket- Wasim Jaffer is just not a name it’s a journey in itself with ups and downs, highs and lows but the calm demeanor of Wasim made him the cricketer that many wished to be tagged as- The Ranji Giant.
The journey
Born on 16 February 1978 in Mumbai (then Bombay), at a chawl in the bowels of Bandra, amidst what used to be a transit camp, a bus driver- Abdul Kade used to glue himself to radio, just to listen to cricket scores on it. Hailing from a middle-class family, Wasim’s Father was the only one earning in the family, elder brother Kalim was a talented player, but the family couldn’t afford it. That’s when the cricketer inside younger brother Wasim was born and he decided to represent his nation to fulfill the dream of his father and brother.
But as they say with every journey there’s a struggle and it was the same case with Jaffer too. He would take the early morning train of 6.15 to reach his school Anjuman Islam located near the Victoria Terminus. A typical lifestyle of an aspiring young cricketer from Mecca of Cricket- Mumbai. From 7 AM to 9 AM, he used to play cricket. And post-school timing, he again took the bat from 2 to 6 PM. Wasim’s childhood was all about doing the hard drills to come through the ranks.
Wasim Jaffer, the “next big thing” in Indian cricket, gained attention at the age of 15 when he scored 400 runs for Anjuman Islam versus Marwari Vidyamandir in the Giles Shield cricket competition. He made a swashbuckling 314 only in his second Test for his domestic team Mumbai. Jaffer spent 675 minutes while playing the mammoth innings and added 459 runs for the first wicket.
Following that monumental knock, he kept scoring runs at will for Bombay U16 and U19. Jaffer, who was only 18 years old, established himself in the team by scoring 314 against Saurashtra in only his second first-class game. With mountains of runs in domestic cricket, Jaffer soon caught the attention of National Team selectors and got selected for the South Africa Test tour in the year- 2000.
A tough overseas tour against the star bowling lineup of the white lightning Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock didn’t allow the right-hander to make any impact at the international level. He had a terrible start to his Test career managing only 46 runs in four innings. The elegant batsman was recalled to the Indian Test squad for the third Test against Sri Lanka in 2005-06.
He made most of his first real chance to return, against England at Nagpur in March 2006 where notched up his maiden Test hundred. With a double century in the West Indies, a special hundred in Cape Town, South Africa, and runs in the historic series victory against England in 2007, his international cricket career is a well-known one. Every time there was concern about his consistency, he would respond with a barrage of runs in the domestic circuit.
Two double tons out of the five test centuries he scored speaks volumes about his ability and hunger to score daddy hundreds. But it was the series in Australia (2008) that, he reckons, eventually ended his India career. After the 2008 home series against South Africa, he was never called back to the side.
Another bumper season in Ranji Trophy for Jaffer scoring 1260 runs at an average of 84, including a triple-century, but Gautam Gambhir peaked in 2009 closing the door completely for the Mumbai-born cricketer. Gambhir attained the number 1 Test ranking in ICC Test rankings in the same year, resting all the contenders for the opening slot.
The humble Ranji Giant
Before joining Vidarbha, he spent the majority of his playing career with Mumbai. Jaffer won many titles for Mumbai and later on went on to replicate those efforts with Vidarbha as well. Jaffer’s decision comes on the back of his most forgettable seasons in first-class cricket, mainly due to the multiple injuries he suffered during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy tournament.
Vidarbha decided to release Dhurv, the left-arm spinner, only when Jaffer agreed to come on board in 2016. This was a game-changer move for Vidarbha as the duo of Chandrakant Pandit and Wasim Jaffer scripted history for Vidarbha!!
Vidarbha won their maiden Ranji Trophy title in the year 2017-18. Wasim Jaffer, at 40 years of age, was the team’s fourth-highest run-scorer with 595 runs from 13 innings at an average of 54.09. In the ongoing Irani Trophy, the senior player broke several records with his marathon innings of 285* runs for Vidarbha. Jaffer passed the 18000-run benchmark to become only the sixth batsman on the coveted list, becoming the best run-scorer in the history of the Ranji Trophy
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Wasim played 260 first-class games, scoring 19,410 runs maintaining an unbelievable average of 50.67. The 6 ft tall batsman has 57 first-class centuries to his name. Wasim retired from all forms of cricket in March 2020 after becoming the most capped and most successful player in the history of the Ranji Trophy.
Jaffer’s international journey is one that sparks curiosity. His batting wasn’t too bad for his career to end after 30 matches, and neither were his teammates’ performances strong enough to provide them unlimited opportunities.
His hunger to score big, in fact, hunger is not the right word, his passion, skills, and dedication to produce big tons is something not a single player can ever match or has ever reached in 1st class cricket.
Many young kids while growing up want to represent their nation at the highest level and Wasim was no different, having significantly contributed to the success stories of the Indian cricket team especially in the test format, Wasim has given us memories to remember for a long time whether it’s the hundred in tough conditions in West Indies and South Africa or the important contributions at the top in the historic Test series win in England.
Those who follow Grassroot cricket would easily understand how big and reputed his name is in the domestic arena. If one compiles a list of all-time greats of first-class cricket then Wasim Jaffer’s name will definitely be there in that list, such has been the career of India’s domestic giant.
Lessons from the journey
A 6ft tall humble giant with a cricketing brain & a batting technique that can last forever like a rock, there are many things which young cricketers can learn from Wasim Jaffer which includes the technical aspects of the game, playing with a cool head on the shoulders and the most important trait that he was never complacent with his achievements, he always had the respect against the different bowling attacks he faced in his illustrious career.
While his cricketing numbers tell us a lot about his journey, a little something that we can all take from his journey as a cricketer is this grit and passion! The sheer love for the game is quite inspiring to witness. A little ounce of it in our own journeys would not only help us to achieve what we dream of but stay motivated and focused despite the obstacles that may come in the journey.
Had it not been his grit, the journey may have been a different one!
From starting as a teenager to playing till his 40’s, the prolonged journey of India’s Mr. Cricket can be written with glittering ink and can be embodied forever in the history books of the game. Wasim Jaffer will forever remain an enigma in Indian cricket and his presence on the cricket field as a player will forever be missed.
~ Vaibhav Tripathi (Guest Author, Beyond the Matches)
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