If day one saw Wasim Jaffer demonstrate how to make the most of a flat deck, the second day’s play of the Irani Cup tie witnessed Jaffer setting an example for all the young batsmen around him of converting a hundred into a record-breaking innings.
Jaffer’s unbeaten 285, aided by Ganesh Satish’s steady hundred, meant Vidarbha compounded the misery of the Rest of India bowlers, ending the day at a gargantuan 598 for three.
The 40-year-old Jaffer continued his masterclass even on the second day. He resumed on 113 but with the Rest of India opting for the second new ball straight away, in overcast conditions, Jaffer and Satish played out six maiden overs up front with RoI pacers Navdeep Saini and Siddharth Kaul bowling a nagging line.
Once Satish got a thickish edge off Kaul that flew through the empty gully region in the ninth over, the birthday boy started scoring freely. Jaffer, however, continued to take his time as he faced 36 dot balls before pushing left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem for a single. Having seen the new ball off, the duo then cut loose for the next few overs, with Nadeem facing the brunt.
The 14th over of the morning started with Satish clearing the long-off boundary off Nadeem and ended with an off-drive in the same area. In between, Jaffer displayed his innovation by reverse-sweeping the bowler for a four.
The next over saw Jaffer flicking Saini twice through the on-side. Once the floodgates had opened, none of the RoI bowlers could put the brakes. Even R. Ashwin, India’s premier spinner in Test matches, couldn’t really contain the duo. In fact, Ashwin continued to experiment with his skill-sets, bowling two spells of leg-break during the day’s play. Towards the end, he did manage to get a top-edge off Jaffer, but it ballooned wide off the bowler.
The post-lunch session saw Jaffer and Satish involved in a race to double hundred and hundred, respectively. Jaffer got to the landmark first, with a quick single off Nadeem to mid-off to raise his eighth First Class double, and first in nine years. Three overs hence, Satish raised his bat for a deserving hundred with an on-drive off offie Jayant Yadav.
The marathon 289-run partnership finally snapped when Kaul was rewarded for his persistence with Satish edging to K.S. Bharat behind the stumps early on in the evening session. But Jaffer continued to plunder the records in the company of Apoorv Wankhede.
The scores:
Vidarbha — 1st innings: Faiz Fazal c Saini b Ashwin 89, R. Sanjay c Samarth b Yadav 53, Wasim Jaffer (batting) 285, Ganesh c Bharat b Kaul 120, Apoorv Wankhede (batting) 44; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-1): 7; Total (for three wkts., in 180 overs): 598.
Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-218, 3-507.
Rest of India bowling: Navdeep Saini 28-6-93-0, Siddharth Kaul 30-6-80-1, R. Ashwin 43-2-123-1, Shahbaz Nadeem 37-4-138-0, Jayant Yadav 38-3-149-1, R. Samarth 4-0-9-0.
