Wasim Jaffer defends poor umpiring in Ranji Trophy: The veteran cricketer was vocal about umpiring standards and his immediate future.
One of the major highlights of the recently concluded season of the Ranji Trophy was ‘poor umpiring standards’. The issue reached the limelight during the knockout matches, which were usually televised.
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Talking about the Semi-final match between Karnataka and Saurashtra, India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara had edged the ball off Abhimanyu Mithun and R Vinay Kumar in the first and second innings respectively. Having said that, with the umpire not ruling the decision in the fielding side’s favour, Pujara got two reprieves which saw him scoring a match-winning hundred.
Veteran batsman Wasim Jaffer, who recently won his 10th Ranji Trophy title (second for Vidarbha), opened up on the umpiring howlers in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times. While most of us have been let down by the umpires, the experienced cricketer felt that the umpiring standards have improved.
“Look, umpiring standards have improved dramatically. They are humans too, they will make mistakes, but overall, it was quite good,” Jaffer was quoted as saying. The immediate solution which comes to mind of the same is the implementation of DRS (Decision Review System) in the Ranji Trophy.
Claiming it to be ‘almost impossible’ during the league games, Jaffer laid emphasis on the same being used at least in the knockout matches.
“As far as the DRS is concerned, it is almost impossible to use it in the league games as there are so many games going on at the same time. But yes, it could be put to use in the knockout games, which could help the sides,” he added.
Jaffer, who will turn 41 next week, didn’t shy away from admitting that he doesn’t have many season left in him. Being asked about his immediate future, Jaffer highlighted the Irani Trophy and remained unsure about what lies ahead.
“Ummm, can’t really comment now. Let’s see, there is an Irani Trophy match coming up. Will play that, and then assess. As far as there is motivation to play the game, I will continue. But the day, I feel it becomes taxing to get up in the morning and train, I might call it quits. It is all about having that desire, you see. Not getting any younger, so it keeps getting difficult to train with the same intensity. I know, I do not have many seasons left in me, but let’s see,” Jaffer concluded.
