Wasim Jaffer quashes communal allegations, denies inviting Maulavis or favoring Muslim Players in Team.
Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal
Former Indian Cricketer Wasim Jaffer who has recently resigned as the Uttarakhand head Coach owing to a dispute with the state association ,on Wednesday rejected allegations by the state association officials that he tried to force religion-based selections in the team.
Earlier Jaffer resigned on Tuesday citing interference and bias of selectors and the association’s selection for non -deserving players’ as the reason.
Expressing his disappointment over his shocking resignation, Jaffer said that players can learn so much from him but they are being denied the opportunity because of the alleged interference and bias of selectors in the selection matters for deserving players.
“I was going to make Jay Bista the captain, but Rizwan Shamshad and the other selectors suggested that you make Iqbal the captain? he is a senior player, has played IPL, and is much older…I agreed to their suggestion,” said Jaffer, who is the all-time leading run-scorer in Ranji Trophy.
The leading run-scorer in Ranji Trophy history has also dismissed allegations that he brought Maulvis to the team’s training.
Jaffer had also accused former BCCI vice president Mahim Verma of interfering in the selection of players.
However, Mahim Verma accused Jaffer of quarreling with Cricket Union officials and trying to break the team due to his religious bias.
Navneet Mishra, Uttarakhand team manager had also revealed that the team Uttarakhand was using slogan ‘Ram Bhakt Hanuman ki Jai’ since last year but Jaffer got the slogan changed to ‘Go Uttarakhand’ claiming that the team had members from different religions.
According to Jaffer he had never called any Maulavi or Maulana and said that it was Iqbal Abdulla who sought his and the manager’s permission to call Maulavis only for the friday prayers.
For the unversed Jaffer was appointed as the head coach of the Uttarakhand team in June 2020. He had a one -year contract with CAU.