Former India opener and most successful Ranji Trophy batsman, Wasim Jaffer has been appointed as the chief coach of Odisha Senior cricket team for the seasons 2021-22  and 2022-23. This was announced by Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) today. He replaced home coach Rashmi Ranjan Parida. Jaffer will also be a part of coaches development program across the State.

“Wasim Jaffer is one of the legends of Indian cricket who hails from Mumbai and holds a very impressive playing and coaching profile. He has played for Mumbai and Vidarbha Cricket Association in the BCCI Domestic Cricket tournaments,’’ OCA said in a press release.

“He holds three records in his name in First-Class matches. He is the highest run-scorer, has played highest number of matches and has hit the highest number of hundreds,’’ OCA mentioned in the realese.

According to the realease, Jaffer has scored 1944 runs, including 5 hundreds and 11 fifties in 31 Tests for India. His highest Test score in an innings was 212. He has also played 2 One-Day Internationals for India. In addition to this, he has played in the Indian Premier League for Royal Challengers, Bangalore in the year 2008 and 2009.

Apart from boasting the record of the highest run-scorer in First Class cricket, Jaffer holds the record of playing the highest number of first-class matches (260) as an Indian batsman and has accumulated a total of 19410 runs (57 hundreds, 91 fifties) with a highest single innings score of 314 not out. He has also played 118 nos of List-A matches accumulating 4849 runs (10 hundreds and 33 fifties) in the process with a highest single innings score of 178 not out.

With regards to his coaching profile, he has worked with the Bangladesh National Team and the Punjab Kings XI team in the Indian Premier League as a batting coach in the season 2020 and 2021. Prior to accepting the offer as chief coach from the OCA, Jaffer was the head coach of Uttarankhand Ranji Trophy Team for the year 2020-21.

But he got embroiled in a controversy and resigned, alleging too much interference from state selectors in team selection. There were reports that some officials of Cricket Association of Uttarakhand accused Jaffer of communalism and said he was causing religious division within the team.