Wasim Jaffer slams 50th ton, bails out Mumbai

MUMBAI: Mumbai have a lot to thank their old war-horse Wasim Jaffer for delivering each time they have looked up to him. On Thursday, the 35-year-old batsman came up with his 50th first-class century to bail the hosts out against their first-time opponents Vidarbha on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group 'A' contest at the Wankhede Stadium.
The former India batsman and ex-Mumbai skipper scored a flawless unbeaten 133 to steer his side to a respectable 254/8 after they were reduced to 39/3 being asked to bat first.
While the visitors came up with a creditable showing with an inspired display of both bowling and fielding, Mumbai on their part kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it was left for Jaffer to hold the fort and he did so in fine fashion.
On a track that offered both bounce and turn, Jaffer stood like a rock and was full of patience, poise and grace. The flowing drives, the cuts, the pulls and hook were packed neatly in his essay of 261 balls wherein he struck 13 fours and a six.
Jaffer was particularly severe on the South Africa-bound paceman Umesh Yadav of whom he hit nine boundaries. On his part, Yadav was the most unimpressive of Vidarbha bowlers failing to pick a wicket and conceding the most of runs (69) off his 19 overs.
Speaking of his landmark hundred, the modest Jaffer said, "I'm delighted. What more can I say. Someone had to hold on to one end and score a few runs, so it feels nice that I could do that and also complete 50 hundreds."
Brief scores: Mumbai 1st innings 254/8 (Wasim Jaffer batting 133, Abhishek Nayar 27; Sandeep Singh 3-29, Jangid 3-48) vs Vidarbha