Look up to Sandhu and Pandit as coaches, says Jaffer as he gears up for new innings

After plying his trade for more than 20 years in domestic cricket, former India and Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer has taken a plunge into full time coaching.

On Tuesday, Jaffer was appointed as the head coach of Uttarakhand for the 2020-21 domestic season.

So how did the seed of coaching plough into his head? “For the last five-six years and especially since I moved to Vidarbha, my inclination was towards helping youngsters. I used to be a part of short coaching camps organised in Mumbai as well. Whether it be in Mumbai or Vidarbha, I tried to help youngsters. Whenever they come for advice, I help them and I liked it as well as I stay connected to the game. I have that kind of temperament, I would say, which is required for coaching,” said Jaffer, who represented India in 31 Tests and two ODIs. He played 156 Ranji Trophy matches, representing Mumbai and Vidarbha while scoring 12,038 runs—both of them a record.

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Jaffer added that Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was the Mumbai coach when he made his debut, and Pandit are the two coaches who have left the maximum impression on him.

“At the start of my career I quite liked Balwinder Singh Sandhu. He had an eye for talent. I didn’t know the role of a coach at that moment but he was a good coach. Then I worked with Chandrakant Pandit at Vidarbha. Even though I played under him for Mumbai as well but there wasn’t much interaction off the field. But in the last three-four years we got to know each other quite a lot. It bonded into a very good friendship. The kind of hardwork and commitment that he puts into his job, I saw that very closely. He transformed Vidarbha. Who would have thought they would win back-to-back Ranji Trophy titles? I think those two guys really stand out.”

After hanging up his boots at the end of last season, Jaffer was keen to take over the reins of Vidarbha after Chandrakant Pandit decided to shift to Madhya Pradesh. However, with no response from his former team with whom he played four seasons and won two Ranji Trophy titles, Jaffer decided to take up the Uttarakhand offer.

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“Personally, I wanted to join Vidarbha, especially after Chandu sir left. When I decided to get into coaching, Vidarbha was my No 1 choice as I knew most of the people over there—from association to players. So I thought that would be a smooth transition and a good place for me to work. I tried to speak to Prashant Vaidya (VCA vice-president), but he didn’t respond to my calls or messages. So I got the message (that) they are probably not looking at me,” said Jaffer, who is also the batting coach of Kings XI Punjab and batting consultant for Bangladesh’s high performance academy.

He added: “I had a couple of other offers as well but Uttarakhand, I felt had a good structure and I heard good things about them. They have to develop into a good team. I know that they have good academies and the association people want to improve. I got a good feedback about them. I thought it was also a very good thing to start a team which is in the plate group and want to improve.”