Wasim Jaffer played a vital role in making Bangladesh Under-19 side World Cup winners

Bangladesh Under-19 successfully managed to grab their first ICC trophy in the history of cricket. It was a memorable win for the young ‘Tigers’ and their skipper Akbar Ali led from the front and helped them in clinching the title. But, the interesting thing to know is that the Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer had played an important role due to which Bangladesh scripted history.

Wasim Jaffer had donned national jersey in 31 Tests and 2 ODIs in which he gathered 1954 runs across all the formats. He also smacked two double tons in the longer format for Team India. Jaffer was an amazing batsman but his inconsistency ruled him out from the national side. However, he has turned into a legendary cricketer in First-class cricket, who has amassed 19,410 runs in 260 games with 91 fifties and 57 tons. He is also the all-time leading run-scorer in Ranji Trophy.

Training under Wasim Jaffer might have worked for Bangladesh Under-19 players

Actually, in the year 2019, he was appointed as the batting coach of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)’s high-performance academy. He trained many cricketers during his tenure that included Akbar Ali Shahadat Hossain.

After clinching the title, Jaffer heaped praises for Bangladesh cricket team on such massive achievement. The 41-year-old said that he had worked with Akbar Ali, who looked quite aggressive while India was batting in the finals. He holds a vast experience of leading the teams in the past and that has certainly worked for him.

Many of the players from the Bangladesh Under-19 team had practised under him. Players like Shahadat Hossain and Nawrose Nabil are some of them, who had closely worked with during Jaffer when he was serving as the head coach. India Under-19 were obviously the favourites to win the World Cup but Bangladesh colts outplayed them in every respective department.

“He (Akbar Ali) was very proactive while India was batting and led the team very well in this final. Akbar has also led Bangladesh’s U-14 and U-16 teams. He has, in fact, spent a lot of time captaining these teams. So with time, you do improve and the more you captain, the more you learn. His astuteness actually stood out.

“Most of these guys have practised under me. They have been playing a lot of age-group cricket for a while. They have a lot of understanding among them… It’s a very talented group. Apart from Akbar, Shahadat Hossain was also with me. So was Prantik (Nawrose Nabil). I have seen most of them closely… They outplayed most of the teams. India were the favourites to win the final, but they outshone them too,” Wasim Jaffer said as quoted by Telegraph.

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