When uncle Wasim got his quadruple century...

Last week, yet another aspiring India cricketer emerged from the maidans of the city to make a name for himself, with a hefty score of 400 for Anjuman Islam against a lesser fancied Marwari Vidyamandir in the Giles Shield cricket tournament.


Wasim Jaffer comes from a school which has given Indian cricket players of the calibre of Salim Durrani, E S Maka, Ghulam Parkar, Zulfiqar Parkar and first-class players like Ibrahim Ansari, Bashiruddin, Iqbal Khan, Salim Kalamuddin and Iqbal Thakur, the latest entry to the Ranji Trophy fray. In their quest to turn the tables on their opponents, Marwari Vidyamandir allowed Anjuman to bat on even after the game was won on the first innings.

Wasim top-scored with 77 in the first innings, before a sudden rush of blood prompted him to throw his wicket away. Big brother watching from the tent was unimpressed. Besides a verbal bashing, he slapped the kid for his impulsiveness. Statistician Anandji Dossa noted that Jaffer has joined the illustrious three in Bombay schools cricket ufffd S V Patkar, Ramesh Nagdev and Sanjeev Jadhav with his performance. Of the second innings, he said: "When I went out to bat, I had decided from the start to make a record-breaking score. I set 25 as a target, then 50, then 100 and so on. Every 50 runs I took a fresh guard and paced my innings accordingly."

However, this is not the first time that Wasim has played a marathon innings. In the under-16 Shatkar Trophy, representing Dilip Vengsarkar XI he scored 206. The Bombay junior selectors took note of this performance and capped him for the Bombay under-16 team. In the first tie against Gujarat he got 58 and 66 against Saurashtra at Rajkot.

Soon big clubs were luring him. Islam Gymkhana listed him for the Salarjung Shield. He did justice to his selection for the famous Shivaji Park with a hundred against a visiting South African junior side.

Wasim puts in five hours of practice daily either in school or the Azad Maidan ironing out chinks in his armour.

Books however, are not neglected and he ranks amongst the top 10 in class. His coach Abdul Kader feels he can play all the shots in the book and is especially strong on the leg side with the flick being his best weapon.

"With his promise and potential the sky is the limit for him," says Kader. His goal for the future is "to bat for India."

Youth, talent and ambition. Wasim has it all.

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