The first man to score 10,000 runs in Ranji Trophy, Wasim Jaffer was as relentless a run-machine for Mumbai than any of her illustrious predecessors — though a handful of those runs came once he decided to move to Vidarbha to make way for young guns. Jaffer was also the first to score 35 hundreds and 75 fifties in the tournament.
Jaffer’s voracious appetite for runs became known before he played First-Class cricket. A giant in school cricket, Jaffer had slammed 400* for Anjuman-I-Islam at a mere 15. No one was, thus, surprised when he amassed that gargantuan 314* in only his second match, in 1996-97 against Saurashtra. He added 459 with Sulakshan Kulkarni for the opening wicket, still the highest for any wicket for Mumbai.
Thirteen seasons later he scored 301, also against Saurashtra. He picked them out again in 2010-11, scoring two hundreds in the same match.
The consistency never ceased, as his career aggregate of over 17,000 runs at an average of 50 would suggest. He had a stop-start Test career, scoring 1,944 runs from 31 matches at 34, but his 5 centuries included 2 double-hundreds.
Picked for the disastrous home series against South Africa in 1999-00, Jaffer was dropped after a string of ordinary performances. He got another run in 2000, but his real success came only after he was recalled in 2005-06. In 2006 and 2007 he got 1,527 runs at 44, and all his 5 hundreds came during this span.
When India conceded a 130-run lead at Antigua in 2006, Jaffer scored a career-best 212 to help them recover to 521 for 6, almost winning the Test in the end. He top-scored with 116 in the Cape Town Test that winter; and in Calcutta the following winter he slammed 202 in 274 balls, 192 of which came on Day One, thus putting his ill-reputation of being a slow batsman at rest.
Jaffer’s Test career faded out following Virender Sehwag’s return to Test cricket in 2007-08, followed shortly by Gautam Gambhir’s resurgence. He responded by scoring 1,260 runs in the following edition of Ranji Trophy; only two men had scored more at that stage. He scored 1,549 runs in all that season: in all he topped the 1,000 in five Indian seasons, the last of which came as recently as in 2013-14. He also led Mumbai to the Ranji title in 2008-09, and repeated the feat in 2009-10.
Jaffer also played 2 ODIs, and was part of a curious Royal Challengers Bangalore line-up that also consisted of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, causing general hilarity among fans.
He also attained superlative success in the Birmingham and District Premier League with 1,908 runs at 68 for Himley in 2015, and then with 1,949 runs at 108 for Wolverhampton the next season.
His nephew Armaan currently plays Ranji Trophy for Mumbai.
Abhishek Mukherjee
Career | M | In | R | NO | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | Ct | St |
Test | 31 | 58 | 1944 | 1 | 212 | 34.10 | 4044 | 48.07 | 5 | 11 | 271 | 3 | 27 | 0 |
ODIs | 2 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 5.000 | 23 | 43.47 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | -- |
T20s | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
World Cup | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Career | M | B | R | W | Avg | EC | SR | 5WI | 10WM | BBI | BBM |
Test | 31 | 66 | 18 | 2 | 9.000 | 1.636 | 33. | 0 | 0 | 2/18 | 2/18 |
ODIs | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
T20s | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
World Cup | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Test Debut
India v South Africa at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, February 24, 2000
Last Test
India v South Africa at Modi Stadium, Kanpur, April 11, 2008
ODI Debut
South Africa v India at Kingsmead, Durban, November 22, 2006
Last ODI
South Africa v India at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, November 29, 2006
The Indian cricket team will play the Test match on 1st July. Apart from one Test match, the Indian cricket team will play three ODIs ...
The Indian cricket team is on a high after winning the last two matches against South Africa and will look to clinch the series with a ...
Hardik Pandya is on cloud nine after leading Gujarat Titans to a win in IPL 2022.
As many as 17 wickets fell on Day 1 of ENG vs NZ Lord's Test
Best IPL 2022 XI: Impressed by how Hardik Pandya led his side to a win, Jaffer picked him as the captain of his side and Ashish Nehra ...
Gaikwad was the highest run-getter in CSK's winning campaign last year, scoring a mind-boggling 635 runs in 16 matches. He beat ...
Sifting through the stats and scorecards, we present the 12 most valuable Ranji players.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Day 4 of the ranji Trophy 2018-19 final between Vidarbha and Saurashtra being played at ...
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Day 2 of the ranji Trophy 2018-19 final between Vidarbha and Saurashtra being played at ...
Only four Indian batsmen have more runs: Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman.
Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal on the changes brought to the team under Chandrakant Pandit and how a winning attitude was inculcated.
Vidarbha had played their first First-class game in 1957-58. They reached the quarter-final in 1970-71 and 1995-96 season.
28 Jun, 2022 21:00 IST
The Village, Malahide, Dublin
Sri Lanka vs Australia - 1st Test
29 Jun, 2022 10:00 IST | 04:30 GMT
Galle International Stadium, Galle
01 Jul, 2022 15:30 IST | 10:00 GMT
Edgbaston, Birmingham
Sri Lanka vs Australia - 2nd Test
08 Jul, 2022 10:00 IST | 04:30 GMT
Galle International Stadium, Galle
10 Jul, 2022 15:00 IST | 09:30 GMT
Titwood, Glasgow
11 Jul, 2022 15:00 IST | 09:30 GMT
Cambusdoon New Ground, Ayrshire
England vs New Zealand - 3rd Test
England beat New Zealand by 7 wickets
India beat Ireland by 7 wickets
Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan - 4th T20I
Match over
Sri Lanka vs Australia - 5th ODI
Australia beat Sri Lanka by 4 wickets
Netherlands vs England - 3rd ODI
England beat Netherlands by 8 wickets