Reports | Wasim Jaffer to replace Chandrakant Pandit as Vidarbha head coach
A couple of days after Chandrakant Pandit exited Vidarbha coaching role for Madhya Pradesh, reports have emerged that Wasim Jaffer might replace the Mumbaikar in the role. Jaffer, who played the last two years of his first-class career with Vidarbha, retired from the sport earlier this year.
Chandrakant Pandit has had a great hand in making Vidarbha a force to be reckoned with in domestic cricket and to help him out in his mission was Wasim Jaffer, who scored over 1000 runs in the 2018-19 season, to make Vidarbha champions for the second consecutive time. Jaffer, who is the highest-capped player in the Ranji Trophy, was a stalwart for Mumbai and used his experience in helping Pandit in Vidarbha and even took over the role of BCB academy head in Bangladesh.
In the wake of Pandit moving to Madhya Pradesh, a team he had represented for over six years, IANS has reported that Jaffer has emerged as the front-runner to take over the role, especially because of the good reputation among the players and those in the administration.
"Wasim Jaffer could take Pandit's place. He said recently after retiring that he is intending to get into coaching so he can very well start his career with Vidarbha. For now there is no official work being done at the VCA (Vidarbha Cricket Academy) but Jaffer has a good reputation among the players and those in the administration and so this possibility cannot be ruled out," the source told IANS.
However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic that has rocked the sporting world and put India in a three-week lockdown, there has been no communication extended to Jaffer yet, who said will consider the offer, while Vidarbha Cricket Association President Anand Jaiswal said that discussions are still on and a decision is yet to be made.
"Nothing is final yet and because of the coronavirus situation we can't conduct any meetings. I can't comment on who is being considered or ruled out, these are matters that can be decided after consultation with all officials, the cricket development committee. We can talk about all this only when the situation improves," Jaiswal told IANS.