Dedication II

[Mr. Wicket]

I remember hearing a touching story some time back about Wasim Jaffer's return from the Australia series. The day after he landed back in Bombay, he turned up for his old club to play a small league game for them. I've had an immense amount of respect for him as someone who hasn't gotten carried away by international success at the highest level, and remains incredibly dedicated to his roots in Bombay cricket. This is an excerpt from an interview with Pravin Amre on CI post-Ranji-win, only further emphasizing that.

That appointment might have raised a few eyebrows especially as Amol Muzumdar was a Ranji-winning captain two years ago, and the side's highest run-getter last year. So what was the idea behind replacing him with Jaffer? Firstly I must give credit to Wasim for staying with Mumbai. Before the season began Maharashtra had given him an offer and were willing to pay him any amount of money, but he opted to stay with Mumbai. That was the wisest decision he took as he would have ended up playing only league games there. Now he has won the Ranji Trophy, and also topped the run charts. Personally I felt Wasim, too, was going through a lean phase as he had failed at the international level, but he still had it in him to play for the country and needed to prove himself once again on the domestic circuit. He is a quality opening batsman, and we felt that the additional responsibility would motivate him further. So we dragged him out of the comfort zone to become more responsible for himself and the team.

[DomainK]

So we dragged him out of the comfort zone to become more responsible for himself and the team.

Wise thinking.

[Rajan]

I am sorry, there was nothing touching about this story. he failed miserably in australia. he had to certainly regain his form after the disastrous performance,especially after veeru returned with a vengeance and Gambhir being in contention for a test spot. but what really was touching about Jaffer was- he continued his innings and won a ranji match for Mumbai, when his father had passed away between the peunltimate day and the final day's start.that in deed deserved great respect and is touching! exemplery commitment. a strong Mumbai Ranji team could have easily won even if he had not resumed batting, but the very fact that he played and finished speaks a lot about the man's strength of character.pity he could not handle Australian bowlers down under. after his excellent performance in england and prior to that SA, and against pak at home, i expected a lot from him.may be as some retired cricketer has pointed out, he shud grip the bat a bit lower to negotiate the bounce.

[bharat297]

it was boycott and he suggested gripping the bat higher not lower ... a lower grip is better for wrisy flicks and that but for better negotiation of bounce ... he suggested a higher grip

[Rajan]

it was boycott and he suggested gripping the bat higher not lower ... a lower grip is better for wrisy flicks and that but for better negotiation of bounce ... he suggested a higher grip

May be. i was not sure about whether Boycott meant to lower the grip or hold the bat higher, i remember the suggestion was about modification of the grip position.but not sure whether that would solve the problem though.if it is that simple, most of our batsmen could have done much better in 1999 series there.they were like sitting ducks and just did not offer any support to sachin until Laxman played that blinder in sydney in the last innings on tour.

[bharat297]

No ive tried it ... I usually bat with a fairly high grip ... when i moved to a lower grip, i found i could dig out yorkers better but struggled against the bouncers, mainly because my body was lower and i was less upright