Wasim Jaffer credits Mumbai's big-ton culture for 206

Vidarbha's Wasim Jaffer celebrates his double century against Uttarakhand during the Ranji Trophy quarter-final tie yesterday. Pic/PTI

Veteran Wasim Jaffer's double century (206) helped Vidarbha to take a 204-run first innings lead against Uttarakhand in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final at Vidarbha Cricket Association's stadium in Jamtha yesterday.

Jaffer, 40, who registered his ninth first-class double ton on Day Three of the game, credited Mumbai's cricketing culture for another big hundred. "When I was growing up in Mumbai, you needed to score big runs to get noticed. Small scores of 50, 70, 80 and even a small hundred wouldn't get you anywhere. Big hundreds, maybe double hundreds, triple hundreds were needed. I grew up watching Sachin [Tendulkar], Vinod Kambli and other players, who used to score big hundreds. I was in an old school environment - when a batsman is set, he is expected to score a big hundred. I developed this habit and it has stuck with me," Jaffer told mid-day over the phone from Nagpur yesterday.

In reply to Uttarakhand's first innings total of 355, the hosts piled up 559 for six. One-drop Jaffer and opener Sanjay Ramaswamy (141) stitched a 304-run for the second wicket. Jaffer's 296-ball knock was laced with 26 hits to the fence. However, the domestic stalwart was not happy with the way his team bowled. "We haven't started well in this game, Uttarakhand managed to get 355. We shouldn't have allowed them to score that many. We dropped quite a few catches, so we were not up to the mark in the fielding department," Jaffer rued.

Catch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates