CHENNAI: Wasim Jaffer. The influence and the weight the name carries transcends across the corridors of Indian cricket. The veteran batter has carved a special place himself, and there are 12,038 reasons why. The former opening batter, at his peak, treated bowlers with disdain – both pacers and spinners – and relentlessly piled on the runs for Mumbai. While he got to play only 31 Tests for India, Jaffer let his bat do the talking.
And in the fag end of his career with Vidarbha, he commanded the respect of his junior colleagues and the coaches. Ask Vidarbha’s Akshay Wadkar, and he would tell how Jaffer’s advice helped him score a century in challenging conditions. Or Faiz Fazal, the two-time title winning Vidarbha captain, who has strung many partnerships with Jaffer and would sing praises of him on multiple occasions.
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The last decade for Hyderabad has been a mixed bag. Ever since their last knockout appearance in the 2016-17 season, the two-time champions underwent a phase of turmoil on and off the pitch. As every season went by, Hyderabad slipped down the places and by 2023, were relegated to the Plate Group.
Even though they returned after a record-breaking Plate campaign the next year, they are yet to qualify to the knockouts since then. Off the pitch, the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has witnessed administrative toil. The association has gained attention for all the wrong reasons over the years.
Now, under new management led by HCA president Amarnath and secretary Jeevan Reddy, they hope to change that. The appointments of Ambati Rayudu as Director of Cricket Operations in May and Wasim Jaffer as mentor in June were the big steps.
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Seven years after his retirement, his influence in the domestic circuit remains significant. After multiple coaching roles, (Uttarakhand, Odisha and Punjab), Jaffer seems to have found something unique in his role as Hyderabad mentor. It all began when Rayudu contacted the 10-time Ranji Trophy winner.
“It was something that I thought would be a good opportunity and a challenging thing to do: Looking after all age-groups, from seniors to other age-groups. As a head coach, you typically look into only one team, but as a mentor, you have to look through all the other teams and get to know all the players. So far, it has been quite challenging, but I am able to handle it, being at every place, watching the matches, watching the players, keeping data, and knowing the players when they play. So far it has been quite good, and I'm enjoying it,” he told this daily after the first phase of Ranji Trophy fixtures.
Jaffer’s initial assessment of the Hyderabad players took him back to a decade ago, when he joined Vidarbha from Mumbai. “There is a lot of talent, which is very evident. The club culture has obviously changed from what it used to be in the last ten years, but you can still see there are a lot of young players who are quite good. All they need is good mentoring. If your U19 team is winning trophies (Vinoo Mankad Trophy earlier this year), then you know that cricket is on the right track, because those are the guys who are going to take over the senior team in a few years.
"I somehow got the same feeling I had when I was playing in Vidarbha when I joined there. They were pretty much in the same state because they were all pretty good players, but somehow they lacked a bit of self-belief because they hadn't won anything before. I find the Hyderabad team is also in a similar line because they get themselves into a good position, but because they lack experience and self-belief, they don't cross the line,” he explained.
And there are encouraging signs to show for. They won three of the first four Ranji Trophy games and amassed better points (20) than they did in the last two years (16 points each). Jaffer believes it would take time for them to be on the right track. “I hope the players buy into whatever has been said to them and the kind of cricket we want them to play. They are trying their best, there's no doubt. It's just that when they come close to crossing the line, they get a bit nervous and tentative, and that is something they need to get used to.
"Once they understand and taste success and win consistently, I feel we won't need to tell them. Vidarbha was also similar — they used to lose so much, it was very normal, but once they started winning, it became a habit. I feel we need to get into that habit of winning from any situation,” he said.
Relationship with Anirudh & Rayudu
The one aspect that has worked well for Hyderabad is the relationship between Jaffer, senior men’s head coach Anirudh Singh and Director of Cricket Operations Rayudu. “Anirudh is more hands-on with the players because he spends so much time in training, whereas I get along with the team a day before the game because I have to spend time with the U19s, U23s, and everywhere else. I don't get involved as much in the regular training part because we've got a lot of coaches working with them, but I come in just before the game and I'm always there to interact with the players.
“Regarding Rayudu, he was the one who got all the systems in place. This season we've played so many games — super league games and about seven or eight league club games — which hasn't happened for years in Hyderabad cricket. Because of that, the players got used to playing four-day cricket before the Ranji Trophy, which was a big change. Rayudu and his team played a very important role in getting that system in place, along with relaying the Gymkhana ground pitches to make them sporting and results-oriented,” he explained.
As Hyderabad switch their attention to the white-ball tournaments this week, Jaffer hopes to see them take a step towards the ‘right track.’ His parallels with Vidarbha in itself, is a sign of encouragement.