Wasim Jaffer: The school topper who failed to make it big in life

Wasim Jaffer failed to make a successful transition from domestic to international cricket

Remember the school kid who topped every competitive exam, aced all surprise tests and Olympiads, was the Chemistry teacher’s delight but for reasons unknown, never really made it big in life? The story of the current Vidarbha Ranji player Wasim Jaffer is remarkably similar to that kid.

The veteran cricketer crossed 10,000 runs in Ranji Trophy this week. Nobody has done that before in the tournament’s 81-year history. Before the IPL storm transformed Indian cricket, this domestic tournament had for long stood as the screening ground for cricketers aspiring to be selected for the national team. The prestigious tournament has undoubtedly produced the finest cricketers who have brought glory and pride to the nation.

Scoring 10,000 runs in a tournament with such profound history behind it, is a colossal achievement. The 37-year-old reached the milestone in his 126th match and he is also the leading run-getter in the Duleep and Irani Trophies. 51 centuries, 83 half-centuries and an average close to 50 in first-class cricket - Remarkable, isn’t it?

In contrast, his international record draws a sorry picture. 31 Test matches with an average below 35. So where did this man go wrong?

Jaffer, a traditional, old school opening batsman reminded you of both Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammed Azharuddin. He first broke into the limelight with an unbeaten 314 against Saurashtra in only his second Ranji match.

The Mumbai Ranji team was a force to reckon with those days and being selected in the final XI itself was no mere feat – just like getting into the middle order of the Indian cricket team, when Dravid & Tendulkar were in their prime. For the record, Amol Mazumdar, another Mumbai Player, the second highest run-getter in Ranji (after Jaffer) never got a call for national duty. The penalty you pay for being a middle order batsman born in the era of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman & Ganguly.

However, Jaffer was an opening batsman. India had been perennially searching for a formidable opening batsman. In Jaffer, we found one. No, wait a minute. He gave India hope! Lets put it this way.

The well of hope dried soon. In his debut series against South Africa in 2000, Jaffer struggled to handle the likes of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock. As a matter of consequence, he was dropped. Thereafter, the game of comedy and tragedy between the selectors and Jaffer began. Comedy for the writers, Tragedy for Jaffer.

Jaffer scored runs at will in the domestic tournaments and paved his arrival back into the team. With poor international form, he soon paved his departure too. Occasional matches followed by years of wilderness. His story raised an alarming question - Did the domestic tournaments, played on pitches with no assistance to the bowlers, give the requisite preparation for our cricketers?

As a kid, you aspire to study in your dream college. Once you get into the college, you don’t know what to do there. What’s next? Ditto with Jaffer. He just could not rise up to the challenges of international cricket. Business tycoons tell you: “It is difficult to reach the top. More difficult it is, to stay there.”

Jaffer was a classical opening batsman, taught to leave the ball alone and play with a straight bat. Hitting the ball in the air was a crime. He was a repository of a lot of traditional virtues - patience, calmness, and perseverance. There was little about him that was flamboyant. His father was a BEST bus driver and he grew up in a relatively poor but deeply religious environment.

Failure is often deeply scrutinized. Critics often try to reason failure. The truth is that Jaffer had no real technical flaw in his batting. Ask Jaffer and he will probably say that the selectors and the captain did not have faith in him.

The only time Jaffer was a permanent fixture in the team was between 2006-08. The word ‘permanent’ only for the lack of a better term. He opened the batting with Sehwag. How does a classical, old school batsman make an impression when he is batting with a tornado playing breathtaking cricket and tearing apart the best of bowlers. You have to be as great as Rahul Dravid to do that. Jaffer’s laidback style pushed the headlines away. Add to that, Jaffer threw away his wicket to a loose ball, more than once.

Jaffer, who switched to Vidarbha this year, has also led Mumbai to two Ranji titles, and won the trophy on five other occasions. Last year he shared space with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer - brash, cheeky, energetic and young cricketers; everything that Jaffer was not.

However, the school kid must still be respected for having tried his best.