For 22 years, Wasim Jaffer had virtually owned domestic cricket’s 22-yards. His Test career, though, was short and underwhelming. On the 7th of March 2020, Wasim Jaffer announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. If there is some person who can be nicknamed India’s ‘Mr. Cricket’, it has to be Jaffer. Ten victorious Ranji finals; the tag of the highest scorer in the history of the Ranji, the Duleep and the Irani Trophies — and, at one point, even of the limited-overs Vijay Hazare tournament. Add to it the tally of runs he has scored in England’s league cricket, where he has been going for 20 years now.
The 42-year-old batsman has had a prolific career decorated with awards and recognition. Right from the onset, he was seen with a spark in his batting ability when he scored 400 runs in an innings in a school match merely aged 15 years. This led to his entry into domestic cricket for Mumbai and it did not take him long to smash records there as well. In just his second match, he became the first-ever Mumbai batsman to score a triple century away from home. Ever since then the career of Wasim Jaffer has been one about breaking domestic records and winning championships on the go.
One of the reasons he had continued to play for so many years, is the fear of what would happen to him if he quits. He is a payrolled employee of Indian Oil and he dreaded the day he would have to start a “9 to 5” work schedule. Just the thought of it stirred dread in Jaffer.
Having had his share of success with Mumbai, the batting stalwart set out for a new challenge as he switched alliances to Vidarbha during the 2015-16 season. The amount of experience brought in by Wasim Jaffer to this side was a boon as it led Vidarbha to back-to-back Ranji Trophies and Irani Cup success. This was a success that had only previously been achieved by the likes of Bombay and most recently, Karnataka. This triumph has only added one more feather to Jaffer’s illustrious career.
A defensively solid batsman with a compact technique, Wasim Jaffer has achieved everything there is to achieve at the domestic level. For starters, he is the leading scorer in Ranji Trophy history with a tally of 12000+ runs. He is also the only batsman to score over 10,000 runs in the tournament. He also holds the record for the greatest number of appearances in Ranji Trophy with 150+ matches.
Having played in all formats of the game, he retires with an experience unmatched by anyone in his level and now it’s the test of time whether Jaffer features as coaching staff for teams or not.
Let's look at the 15 unique Ranji trophy records all-time records list.
