Irani Cup: Wasim Jaffer, Ganesh Satish grind Rest of India to mat

Nagpur, March 15: A quick age check of Wasim Jaffer may leave you surprised at several levels.

1. He is 40.

2. He is still actively pursuing the career of a professional cricketer.

3. He still has the hunger to bat for two days to score an unbeaten 285 facing 425 balls with 34 fours and a six - the foundation of 598/3 scored by Vidarbha in the Irani Cup against Rest Of India on Thursday (March 15).

4. He still has the stamina and concentration to stay on at the crease amidst the 33 degree Celsius dry heat of Nagpur.

A rare species indeed!

En route his 285, Jaffer also became the highest scorer in Irani Cup overtaking M Vijay, who had made 266 against Rajasthan in 2012-13.

But the significance of his knock was way beyond mere numbers. Jaffer's double hundred was a telltale symbol of endurance and commitment to a sporting discipline - one that holds not too many parallels.

Wasim Jaffer becomes the highest scorer ever in #IraniCup #ROIvVID pic.twitter.com/RPP9Dcmequ

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 15, 2018

When his Mumbai career came to a close in the 20-15-16 season, Jaffer, 37 then, could have opted for a far easier life than grinding out in the relative obscurity of Indian domestic cricket.

But Jaffer chose to continue his cricketing journey settling for the role of a senior player with Vidarbha and that journey had reached its logical conclusion earlier this year when they bagged the Ranji Trophy for the first time in their history.

Congratulations Wasim Jaffer 200 not out and 18000 first class runs and still going strong.. he should have played for bit longer for Team India 🇮🇳 #perfectplayer #Topplayer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Vidrabha vs rest of india #iranitrophy @BCCIdomestic @BCCI

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 15, 2018

Well done Wasim Jaffer ..old man still super @bcci

— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) March 15, 2018

This day too, Jaffer was in the forefront of Vidarbha's charge to command against RoI and
on a pitch that still held together bowlers like R Ashwin and Jayant Yadav hardly made any impression on Jaffer and his partner Ganesh Satish.

Ganesh too played his role well for Vidarbha notching up a classy hundred (120, 280b, 10x4, 2x6) as they ground down RoI bowling for the massive 289 stand for the third wicket.

It was his 12th first-class hundred and came on his 30th birthday. His dismissal was only a token relief for RoI as Jaffer went on to punish them in the company of Apoorv Wankhede.

More frighteningly, end seems so far at this moment.