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Wasim Jaffer celebrated his return from the wilderness with a half-century
© AFP
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As Wasim Jaffer faced up to the first delivery of the Indian innings, he
could have been forgiven a nervous flutter or two. Confronting him was
Matthew Hoggard, whose canny swing had breached his defence for 0 in
successive Tests at Lord's and Trent Bridge on India's tour of 2002. That
Test at Nottingham, where he managed only five in the second innings, was
to be his last, and after just 261 runs in seven matches spread over two
years, he returned to the twilight zone of domestic cricket.
He was to linger there over three years, before that unexpected call-up
for the Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka. With Gautam Gambhir in such
wretched form, most expected him to play, but a vote of confidence in the
incumbent meant that Jaffer had to watch from the sidelines as India
ground out a convincing victory marred only by poor batting from the top
order.
Even when he was jettisoned in England, few doubted his ability, but with
Virender Sehwag demonstrating his calibre at the top of the order and
Sanjay Bangar showing immense adhesive powers on a seam-friendly
Headingley pitch, the door had been shut on a comeback. Undaunted, he went
back to doing his old stomping grounds, compiling big knocks with the
poise and style that had always marked him out as a talent to watch.
He started the following season with a century in the Irani Trophy, and
was a qualified success while opening for India A on their tour of the
British Isles in 2003 - a rapid 218 while following on against
Warwickshire was further evidence of his appetite for the big innings.
Aakash Chopra was the flavour of the moment though, and it was he that
went to Australia and Pakistan, while Jaffer contented himself with vital
knocks for Mumbai, including 133 in the Ranji Trophy triumph over Tamil
Nadu.
Three big centuries followed at the start of the next season, but a
subsequent slump ruined any chances that he may have had of making the
Indian side. By then, Chopra was long gone, and Gambhir was accompanying
Sehwag to the middle. Instead of losing heart, Jaffer went back to basics
and came back stronger. He started the current season with 133 for West
Zone against South, and a splendid 267 against Delhi pushed him back to
the front of the queue as India continued to debate who should partner
Sehwag.
That he would go to Pakistan was never in doubt, and he appeared to have
played himself into the XI with 58 and an unbeaten 35 against a Pakistan A
attack that included Umar Gul, Mohammad Irshad, Yasir Arafat and Mansoor
Amjad. But with back-room machinations playing a part in the selection of
the Indian team, neither Jaffer nor Gambhir got a look in, and the absence
of a specialist opener was keenly felt at Karachi as Mohammad Asif and
Shoaib Akhtar ended India's chances with two telling new-ball spells.
When he walked out with Sehwag 45 minutes into the afternoon session
today, with England having made 393, there must have been the odd fidget
in the dressing room. A first-innings total of 398 had proved to be more
than enough for Australia in the last Nagpur Test, and in Steve Harmison,
Andrew Flintoff and Hoggard, England had an attack that was nearly
comparable to the triumvirate of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz that
had peeled apart the Indian batting as easily as you would one of the
local oranges en route to that 342-run romp in 2004.
The discipline with which England started meant that runs were a scarce
commodity before tea, as Dravid - coming in after Sehwag's casual waft to
short-cover - laboured 42 deliveries over five. The notes of positivity
all came from Jaffer, who used those supple wrists beautifully each time
the bowlers erred from their outside-off-stump line. The fact that 10 of
the 13 boundaries he struck came in the arc between fine leg and
long-on said much about how well he played to his strengths, while
eschewing unnecessary risks.
There were periods when he too appeared becalmed, with Flintoff and
friends bowling tight lines to fields that choked off his main scoring
shots. But the slightest slip was usually seized upon, and towards the end
of the day's play, he unveiled a majestic cover-drive off Hoggard to
illustrate that there was more than one arrow in that quiver.
It wasn't the most fluent innings that he's ever played, and the bowling
was disciplined rather than lethal, but this unbeaten 73, with the
prospect of many more, will mean the world to a man who has spent some of
his best years on the fringes. In the furore surrounding Ganguly's ins and
outs from the XI, Indian cricket had lost some focus with regard to the
importance of an opener. As Jaffer and Alastair Cook have already shown
over the first two days of this series, there's still a lot to be said for
specialists.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo