Wasim Jaffer gets a big hundred

< 1 minute read

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were fairly predictable thorns in Sohail Tanvir’s side, but Wasim Jaffer was a thorn the size of a pickaxe handle.

Jaffer actually made his Test debut back in 2000, when he was looked on as the latest great batsman from Mumbai, the town that brought you Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Merchant and far too many more. It hasn’t really turned out like that, but he’s becoming more secure in his Test place.

He hit a double hundred, away from home, against the West Indies last year and in the recent series in England, Jaffer showed a great ability to see out new ball swing, although he undid this good work with a couple of needless dismissals. He can bat for long periods and he can bat when it’s tough. He just needs to combine the two now.

Today might not have been an example of that, but in hitting 192 not out off 255 balls, he’s done all you could ask of an opener. Not bad for a man who’s very name is synonymous for an unplayable delivery.

We vaguely remembered writing a post about how Indians seem to score big hundreds more often than England’s batsmen. It took us ages to find, until we hit upon the ingenious idea of perusing the ‘big hundreds’ category on our old site.

Wasim Jaffer has hit 192 not out. That is a big hundred.