Wasim Jaffer has tendered his resignation from the post of head coach of the Uttarakhand state team. This comes as a surprise as the 2021 Vijay Hazare ODI Trophy is scheduled to begin from February 20 onwards.
Jaffer was appointed to the position last March after he had announced his retirement from all forms of the game. Reasons for Jaffer’s sudden resignation are not known but officials in Uttarakhand confirmed that the domestic cricket legend had e-mailed his resignation.
The association is yet to accept Jaffer’s resignation.
During his tenure as coach, Jaffer included three players — Jay Bista, Iqbal Abdullah, and Samad Fallah — in his team. He also picked his own support staff. However, this all didn’t result in any silverware for Uttarakhand, as they failed to make it into the knockouts of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, winning just one game out of five.
“After I retired I wanted to take up a coaching role. A few teams contacted me but I liked the way Uttarakhand expressed their vision. When I was playing for Vidarbha, I was also in a mentoring role. But to become a head coach will be a challenge as I have to look after all areas,” Jaffer had said after taking charge as Uttarakhand coach.
He had also said he would coach just for one season since he did not want a long-term contract.
“I didn’t want a long term role as I want to check how things progress in the coaching role. Uttarakhand is a new team with long-term goals and I realize it will be a challenge to coach a smaller team. They have the potential to do well and the boys are keen to learn. At the moment, there is no clarity when the domestic season will start due to the pandemic,” Jaffer had said.
Apart from this, Jaffer is also the batting consultant with Bangladesh Cricket Academy and is the batting coach of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab.
(Indian Express inputs)
