Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Veteran Wasim Jaffer Named in the Vidarbha Squad

The veteran Vidarbha batsman Wasim Jaffer once again makes the headlines. After the impressive performances in the previous seasons, the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) asked the veteran to pull his socks up for the limited-overs edition of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018.

It was a surprising inclusion by the Vidharbha selectors. The state team always performed exceptionally by reaching the knockouts for four times in the last six years. Still, the officials felt the need of including senior campaigner Jaffer in the team.

Wasim Jaffer’s experience to be invaluable:

A source in the VCA told Times of India by saying the presence of Jaffer in the team will help the youngsters in a best possible way. The source added that the experience will be very helpful in knockout stages.

Further, the source backed their decision to bring Jaffer in the side. They felt that using Jaffer will benefit the team when it matters the most.

Apart from Jaffer, the selectors backed the youngsters who performed for the state.

”If you look at the squad, it’s full of young players. His experience will be invaluable. We have already seen how he helped our batsmen out. His inclusion will definitely help the team,” a source in VCA told ToI.

”He has been regularly playing One-dayers in England and scoring heavily. You need experience in the 50-over format. Our team will benefit a lot, especially in the crucial stages of the tournament. In the last few years, our team has done well in the league stage but struggled in the knock-outs,” the source added.

Senior players aren’t impressed:

Meanwhile, the senior players in the team aren’t impressed with the decision to include Jaffer in the team. They feel that the One-dayers and Twenty20 games are for youngsters to show their skills. They also felt that Jaffer couldn’t fit in the fielding section as well.

“It’s very strange. When it comes to local players our selectors talk about age and promoting youngsters. But for outstation players, everything is fine,” a local player, who wished anonymity maintained.

 

“What about athleticism and agility, which it must be needed in shorter formats? He is a great player. Even at this age, he will score runs but will it help Vidharbha going forward? Vidarbha is a good One-day side. They are one of the best fielding units in the country. I don’t think Jaffer fits in,” he said.

However, both the selection committee members and the players have got the valid reasons to blame each other.

Nonetheless, one-dayers and T20 games are for the youngsters to prove themselves to achieve higher levels. On the other hand, Wasim is Jaffer already an established cricketer for Vidarbha. He is set to delight one and all in the impending Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018.

Here is the squad:

Faiz Fazal (captain), Sanjay Ramaswamy, Ganesh Satish, Apoorv Wankhade, Atharva Taide, Akshay Wadkar, Jitesh Sharma, Mohit Kale, Ravi Jangid, Akshay Karnewar, Akshay Wakhare, Rajneesh Gurbani, Shrikant Wagh, Yash Thakur, Aditya Thakare, Wasim Jaffer