With Vidarbha’s 78-run win the final against Saurashtra, Wasim Jaffer became only the fifth cricketer to win 10 Ranji Trophy titles on Thursday. This was his second title for Vidarbha. The talismanic cricketer had won two titles for Mumbai. Jaffer has also never lost a Ranji Trophy final in his career.
The record for most Ranji Trophy titles stands with Mumbai's Ashok Mankad, who had won the coveted title 12 times. The other three cricketers to win 10 Ranji Trophy titles are Ajit Wadekar(11), Manohar Hardikar(10) Dilip Sardesai(10).
Jaffer had moved to Vidarbha in 2015 following a disappointing season with Mumbai, mainly due to a finger injury. He had played only two games for Mumbai in that season, scoring 22 runs.
"Didn't think I'd play another Ranji Trophy final when I left Mumbai. Two in two is unbelievable," said Jaffer after Vidarbha won their second successive Ranji Trophy title on Thursday at Nagpur.
Jaffer had, in fact, missed the entire next season due to the finger injury when finally current Vidarbha coach Chandrakant Pandit helped in his recovery. "When I came back from injury, Chandrakant Pandit became coach and brought me in. I don't want to let it go. Playing in a winning team motivates you,” said Jaffer.
Jaffer failed to set the stage on fire in the finals scoring only 34 runs (23 & 11) but he ended this season as the second highest run-scorer only behind Sikkim's Milind Kumar with a staggering 1003 runs to his name at an average of 77.15. His sparkling double hundred against Uttarakhand in the quarter-final led Vidarbha to the semis.
The 40-year-old Jaffer is also the only cricketer to have scored more than 10,000 runs in Ranji Trophy. He currently has 11775 Ranji Trophy runs to his credit.