One of the finest batsman in the Indian domestic circuit, Wasim Jaffer celebrates his 42nd birthday on Sunday. Born on February 16, 1978, Jaffer boasts of a prolific record at the first-class level and is still going strong. The right-handed opening batsman has been blessed with magical wrists and his ability to time the ball is second to none. Be it spin or spin, pacer’s friendly pitch or a rank-turner, Jaffer has proved his mettle in all sorts of conditions. The maestro has also played a decent amount of international cricket. However, most of his success came at the domestic level and below, we’ll look at his five of the best knocks. Wasim Jaffer Becomes First Player to Score 12,000 Runs in Ranji Trophy.

Making his First-Class debut for Mumbai way back in 1996-97 season, Jaffer has toiled a lot of potent bowling line-up at the First-class level, mustering a mountain of runs. In fact, his tally of 12038 runs is the most for any batsman in the Ranji Trophy. Also, he holds the record of scoring most centuries (40) in Ranji history. Well, these numbers certainly speak volumes about Jaffer’s ability with the willow and below, we’ll look at his five of the best knocks. Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Vidarbha's Wasim Jaffer Becomes First Player to Appear in 150 Ranji Matches.

314 vs Saurashtra, Rajkot

Jaffer burst into the scenes in his debut Ranji season in 1996/97 with a hundred in only his second game. In reply of Saurashtra’s total of 595 runs, an 18-year old Jaffer opened the innings for Mumbai and didn’t put a foot wrong. He brilliantly tackled the opposition bowlers and went on to register a sensational triple ton. His innings guided Mumbai to 647 runs in the first innings and later, the match was tied.

301 vs Saurashtra in Chennai

Another Wasin Jaffer special against Saurashtra was witnessed during the semi-finals of 2008/09 Ranji Trophy. On this occasion, Jaffer was the captain and he came out to open in the first innings of the match. Just like his previous triple-ton, the right-handed batsman seemed rock solid and scored runs at all the corners of the ground. He top-scored for his side with 301 runs and guided Mumbai to a mammoth total of 637 runs. The match eventually got tied but Mumbai advanced to the finals due to first-innings lead.

206 vs Uttrakhand in Vidarbha

Years passed by, teams got changed but what remained was Jaffer’s class. After switching to Vidarbha from Mumbai, Jaffer played a lot of cricket at number three and didn’t disappoint there too. In the quarter-final match of 2018-19 Ranji Trophy, the veteran came into bat after the early fall of skipper Faiz Fazal and brought the innings back on track. He scored a splendid double century, guiding his side to 629 runs. His efforts proved to be fruitful as Vidarbha won the encounter by an innings and 115 runs.

286 vs Rest of India in Nagpur

After lifting the title in Ranji Trophy 2017/18, Vidarbha qualified for Irani Cup where they locked horns with Rest of India (ROI). With the presence of R Ashwin and Navdeep Saini, the ROI bowling line-up was quite strong but still couldn't breach Jaffer's defences. Riding on his good run, the star batsman tormented the opposition bowlers and played a marathon knock. He scored 286 runs in total and guided his side to 800 runs in the first innings. The match, however, resulted in a draw.

178 vs Mumbai in Nagpur

Facing his former team in the 2018/19 edition of Ranji Trophy, Jaffer scored a scintillating ton and sealed his side's triumph in the first innings. Coming into bat after the early fall of the first wicket, the talismanic batsman looked at his prime and he also accumulated runs at a rapid pace. The likes of Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande couldn't face much against him and were smashed for boundaries. His 178 guided Vidarbha to 511 runs in first innings. In reply, the Mumbai batting line-up crumbled and as a result, they lost the match by an innings and 146 runs.

Along with these stellar knocks, the majestic batsman has also represented India in 31 Test matches. In those matches, the veteran amassed 1944 runs which included five centuries and two double hundreds as well. He is also touted to be an unlucky cricketer as he never got many chances. Nevertheless, he is still piling up runs at the domestic level and his next target will be to guide Vidarbha to the title in the ongoing Ranju Trophy 2019/20.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 16, 2020 08:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).