Veteran India cricketer Wasim Jaffer showed his mastery by notching up his 53rd first-class ton as Vidarbha ended day one of the Irani Cup at 289/2 against Rest of India on Wednesday.
The opening day also witnessed an out-of-sorts Ravichandran Ashwin trying his hand at bowling leg breaks.
Jaffer special
The Ranji Trophy champions were hardly bothered by the Rest of India bowlers on a placid Jamtha track in Nagpur as the 40-year-old Jaffer remained unbeaten on 113 with 16 boundaries and a six to his credit. He became the highest ever run-getter in the history of Irani Cup.
Jaffer, who was appearing in his 242nd first-class matches, has now played 12 Irani Cup games with over 1000 runs – the tally is more than the top-5 that includes legends such as GR Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sunil Gavaskar.
Ashwin fails to shine
Ashwin’s figures of 66/1 saw him being largely ineffective primarily due to lack of assistance from the track. In between, Ashwin tried bowling leg-breaks, but Jaffer and Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal (89) negotiated him without much difficulty.
There has been insecurity about losing his place to younger wrist spinners in the limited overs set-up, and the more variations that Ashwin tried, the more he looked out of place. The leg-breaks didn’t turn and Jaffer at times would just lean on the back foot and tap it away.
When he tried to flight the ball, Jaffer or opener Sanjay Ramaswamy (53, 111 balls) would come down the track to negate it. The most disappointing aspect of Ashwin’s bowling was lack of venom in his off-breaks as there was hardly any visible turn off the pitch.
Openers get going
The successful opening pair of Fazal and Ramaswamy once again showed why they had made such a big impact in Vidarbha’s Ranji triumph, adding 101 runs for the opening stand.
Ramaswamy hit a big straight six off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, apart from six boundaries. Fazal was more dogged in his approach, something that got him plenty of runs in the Ranji season.
Ramaswamy was finally gone after lunch, trying to work Jayant Yadav on the leg-side and offering a simple catch to Ravikumar Samarth at short mid-wicket. Once Jaffer came in, he showed why he belonged to a different league. The first short ball from Jayant was pulled for a boundary and the next was through square.
70 off his 113 came in boundaries and he showed time and again as to why he will forever remain one of India’s finest first-class batsmen.
In the process, he added 118 runs with Fazal for the second wicket and another 72 for the unbroken third wicket with Ganesh Sathish (29 not out), who was dismissed off a no ball by Nadeem towards the end of the day.
Brief Scores: Vidarbha 289/2 (Wasim Jaffer 113 not out, Faiz Fazal 89, Sanjay Ramaswamy 53; R Ashwin 1/66).
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