Communal angle unhappy, says Jaffer after quitting as U’khand coach

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer’s resignation as Uttarakhand coach has triggered an unsightly row — a sort unprecedented in Indian cricket circles.
On Wed-nesday, a day after Jaffer, in his resignation letter, accused Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) officers of pushing “undeserving players”, the state unit’s secretary, Mahim Verma, stated he had acquired suggestions from the staff that Jaffer had “communalised” the dressing room ambiance and “favoured” Muslim gamers.
Late within the night, Jaffer, at an internet press convention, stated he felt “very sad” that he had to explain such allegations. “It’s the lowest one can go. These allegations of me being communal and giving this communal angle is sad,” stated the all-time highest Ranji Trophy run-scorer.

Earlier within the day, talking to The Indian Express, Verma stated the Uttarakhand gamers had informed him that through the staff’s coaching session, Jaffer had invited a maulvi to the bottom and even modified the staff chant that hails Hanuman.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), a few players and support staff came to me and said a few things that were shocking. They told me that he (Jaffer) was communalising the team and favouring Muslims. Some players said they wanted to chant ‘Rambhakt Hanuman ki Jai’ but Jaffer said the team should change it to something else. Later, I was told that during our bio-bubble training sessions in Dehradun, a maulvi came and offered namaaz on the ground twice. How can a maulvi enter when a bio-bubble is in place. I told my players they should have informed me earlier, I would have taken action,” Verma stated.
In his response, Jaffer stated: “They said I called a maulvi and offered namaaz on the ground. First of all, I didn’t call a maulvi; it was Iqbal Abdullah who called him. On Friday, we needed a maulvi to offer namaaz. Iqbal asked me, and I said yes. The practice was over and we offered namaaz inside the dressing room. This happened only twice or thrice, that too before the bio-bubble was put in place.”
“There are allegations of me not allowing players to chant ‘Jai Hanuman Jai’. First of all, no players chanted any slogan. We have a few players who are from the Sikh community, and they used to say ‘Rani Mata Sache Darbar ki Jai’. So, I once suggested that we should have something like “Go Uttarakhand” or “Come on, Uttarakhand” as a substitute. Like, when I was with Vidarbha, the staff had “Come on, Vidarbha” as its slogan. And it wasn’t me who selected the slogan, it was left to the gamers,” he stated.
“If I was communal, I would have said let’s say ‘Allah hu Akbar’. I would have scheduled practice in the morning so that I can offer my namaaz in the afternoon,” he stated.

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Jaffer was appointed Uttarakhand coach final 12 months – his contract was for one season. Following his appointment, Jaffer hand-picked three skilled gamers – Jay Bista, Iqbal Abdullah and Samad Fallah — from outdoors the state to play for Uttarakhand. Former Mumbai participant Abdullah was named captain for the Syed Mushtaq home T20 event.
“Jaffer was interfering too much. He was not even listening to the selection committee. During one meeting, he told me, ‘aap ko cricket nahi pata (you don’t know about cricket)’. His behaviour became an issue, not only with me but even for the selection committee. We gave him a free hand but he wanted total control which is not acceptable,” Verma stated.
Jaffer, who has shut to twenty,000 first-class runs, stated in his resignation letter that he felt “really sad for the players”. “I genuinely think that they have a lot of potential and can learn so much from me but are denied this opportunity because of so much interference & bias of selectors and secretary in the selection matters for non-deserving players,” he wrote.

At the press convention, he stated that if his actions have been so objectionable he ought to have been sacked earlier. “These things came up after I resigned. If they knew that I was doing such kind of activities they should have sacked me. It’s me who resigned on my own,” he stated.