I missed the bus as Dhawan got selected: Wasim Jaffer

Jaipur: Former India international and domestic cricket legend Wasim Jaffer recently spoke about his impressive domestic performances and his inability to make a return to the international side despite great numbers in the domestic scene.

He said, "In 2012-13, I was very close to getting selected when Shikhar Dhawan got selected. So, I came very close a couple of times but somehow I missed the bus." He also added, "The selectors are the best people who can answer that but I definitely kept knocking the door." Jaffer, who has one of the best domestic records in Indian cricket with over 19,000 runs to his name playing in 260 first class games with an average of 50.67 and the best score of 314 feels that he was not consistent enough especially at the international level.

He said, "I wasn't that consistent. If I was, I would have played more than 100 Test matches. I was not that consistent at the international level that is why I got dropped." He added, "I am famous for my first-class career more than the international cricket that I have played." In a recent interaction on Sports Tiger's show 'Off the Field' hosted by Vedant Sharma, Jaffer also spoke about his new role on being appointed as the head coach of Uttarakhand. He said, "It's quite exciting, something which is very new to me. Even though, I have tried my hand in coaching, but not as a head coach. I have done some batting consultancy and I have played some part in coaching but taking up the whole team is quite exciting and challenging, so I am looking forward to it."

With IPL round the corner, Jaffer believes that the IPL is very important as it provides the monetary benefit and the stage to perform. However, he feels that though there are a lot of positives but youngsters should keep their priorities right. He added, "To pick a player in Test cricket because of his performance in IPL is something which is wrong. I think if he performs well in IPL maybe we can look at him in the white-ball format."