5 Indian cricketers who deserved a longer run

#3 Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer made 286 to guide Vidarbha to their maiden Irani Cup

The recently concluded Ranji Trophy series saw the underdogs Vidharba lift the trophy. While the young pacer Rajneesh Gurbani powered them on the bowling front, it was the Indian stalwart Wasim Jaffer who led the team on the other fronts.

A batsman with a style similar to Azharuddin, Jaffer, on his debut in 2000, succumbed to Allan Donald's pace and Shaun Pollock's tenacity. However, in the few games that he played, he showed signs of his unflappable temperament. Despite this, his international career was temporarily put to rest.

After having made a string of big scores, he returned to the squad to play in the Carribean Islands where he stroked his way to two elegant half-centuries. However, this was not deemed enough as he was ousted from the team yet again for throwing it away when well set.

Having piled on the runs for Mumbai in the domestic wilderness, he returned to play against Sri Lanka in 2005. He cashed in on the return and later against England at Nagpur, he notched up his maiden Test hundred. The selectors rewarded him with a fair share of opportunities as he repaid them with double centuries against the West Indies and Pakistan.

By doing so he became only the third Indian batsman ever to score two double centuries as an opener after Vinoo Mankad and Sunil Gavaskar.

Following this, Jaffer had a few poor outings in the three Tests he played against South Africa and subsequently with Gautam Gambhir’s entry, his career was all but over. Looking back, the former RCB batsman can only feel a tinge of sadness about how his stop-start career panned out.