Wasim Jaffer clears air on his resignation as Uttarakhand coach; brushes off angle of 'communal bias'

Wasim Jaffer has been a legend in the Indian domestic circuit. He has won several Ranji Trophies with Mumbai and later on with Vidarbha. So, when he was appointed as the head coach of the Uttarakhand team, everyone was assured that the team was in his safe hands. However, a couple of days back, he resigned from the role, much to the disappointment of the cricket fans. 

After the resignation came, there were speculations that Jaffer wanted a maulvi inside the bio bubble of the team and that he was biased against non-muslim players. However, the veteran decided to clear the air by clarifying that he had actually quit his role because of the lack of structure in the Uttarakhand cricket system and the interference of the administration when it came to selection in the matches. 

The former Indian cricketer decided to speak in a press conference and explain his side of the story. He expressed his disappointment because of the wrong allegations against him which were floating in the news and social media. He refused there was any community angle which caused him from resigning. 

The allegations which have been made, these are serious allegations: Wasim Jaffer

“The allegations which have been made, these are serious allegations… The communal angle that has been levelled against me, that is very very sad, that I come and speak about it… you all know me and have seen me for a long time, so you all know how I am,” Jaffer said in a press conference on Wednesday as quoted by Sports Cafe. 

He further clarified that Iqbal Abdullah, a player, had actually asked the Maulvi to come, but also stated that the bio-bubble was not breached. He then shared an incident where there was interference from the board regarding team selection, which Jaffer didn’t appreciate. He further went to say that if there was a community angle, then he would have been fired. 

“There was a time when, over a phone call between me, the CEO, the secretary and the chief selector, Mahim Verma was making suggestions about which player should play and which player shouldn’t, and I had to tell that since he doesn’t understand cricket, he should leaving those decisions with me and the selectors. This (communal bias) is a serious allegation. And if there were indeed a communal bias, I wouldn’t have resigned, they would have sacked me,” he concluded.