Having called time on his illustrious first-class career at the end of this Ranji Trophy season, Wasim Jaffer could be in line to take over from Chandrakant Pandit as Vidarbha's next head coach.
Jaffer, a Mumbai legend, spent his last few years with Vidarbha as a professional under experienced coach Pandit, who oversaw the team's consecutive title-winning campaigns in the last two seasons.
But, following an unsuccessful run this winter, Pandit is set to leave the camp and join Madhya Pradesh ahead of the next season. Jaffer is understood to be his most likely replacement given his rapport with the players, including skipper Faiz Fazal, and the administrative set-up in Vidarbha.
"Wasim Jaffer could take Pandit’s place," a source close to the matter told IANS. "He said recently after retiring that he is intending to get into coaching so he can very well start his career with Vidarbha."
"For now there is no official work being done at the VCA (Vidarbha Cricket Academy) but Jaffer has a good reputation among the players and those in the administration and so this possibility cannot be ruled out."
VCA President Anand Jaiswal confirmed that no final decision has been taken on the matter yet.
"Nothing is final yet and because of the coronavirus situation, we can’t conduct any meetings," Jaiswal said. "I can’t comment on who is being considered or ruled out, these are matters that can be decided after consultation with all officials, the cricket development committee. We can talk about all this only when the situation improves."
(Inputs from IANS)
