The 42-year-old former Indian captain and most capped player in Ranji trophy announced retirement in all forms of cricket on March 7 (Saturday). Wasim Jaffer well known as a domestic giant made his first-class debut in 1996 and scored a triple century in his second match. He stayed for 675 minutes in the crease in his second match which is praiseworthy.
He made his first test debut on 24 February 2000 vs South Africa. His performance in the series was not much encouraging with the single-digit score but he made his first-century test exactly 100 against England six years later. Later he made his first double century against west indies and scored 212 which is his highest test score. He made his last appearance in test cricket in 2008 due to a string of poor scores. His first debut in ODI was in 2006 and last in the same year as he played only two ODI matches and he didn’t go well with the national squad.
Jaffer’s career never took off, as continued to play heavily in the Ranji trophy. He played most of his first-class games on the Mumbai side from 1996-2015 as captain as well won many titles. In 2015 he switched to Vidarbha. He holds the best records that are difficult to surpass. He is the only cricketer to score 1000 runs in single Ranji season twice. He became the first player to appear for 150 Ranji matches.
Career Statistics
| Test | ODI | FC | List A | |
| Matches | 31 | 2 | 256 | 118 |
| Runs Scored | 1,944 | 10 | 19,211 | 4,849 |
| Batting Average | 34.10 | 5.00 | 50.95 | 44.08 |
| 100s/50s | 5/11 | 0/0 | 57/89 | 10/33 |
| Top Score | 212 | 10 | 314* | 178* |
During 2019-20 Ranji finals Jaffer needed 853 runs to reach 20,000 but he made it to 19,410 runs which gives him 5th position in the list of highest run-scorers in Indian first-class cricket.
After 25 years of playing professional cricket, time has come to say goodbye. Thank you @BCCI @MumbaiCricAssoc, VCA, my teammates, media and fans. This is my official statement. pic.twitter.com/xP3wL4u70s
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) March 7, 2020
“My father wanted one of his sons to represent India and I feel proud to have fulfilled his dream. After all these years in cricket, it is time to move on. But just like the red ball format which is very dear to me, it’s the end of only the first innings. I am looking forward to the second innings in any capacity, be it in coaching, commentary, etc. As long as I stay involved with the game as this game has given me so much,” he said.
