Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer Biography

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

Wasim Jaffer Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Wasim Jaffer Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--