Wasim Jaffer was a role model to Vidarbha players, says Chandrakant Pandit

Chandrakant Pandit (File pic)

Indian domestic cricket's most successful coach, Chandrakant Pandit was shocked to learn about communal allegations levelled at Wasim Jaffer during his short stint as Uttarakhand coach.

Pandit's three-year partnership with Jaffer did wonders for Vidarbha cricket as they won the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 2017-18 and then successfully defended the title in 2018-19. Pandit strongly defended Jaffer. "It is shocking to read that Wasim tried to influence players over religion. I have known Wasim for a very long and worked closely with him during my time at Vidarbha. He was a role model to all the youngsters irrespective of caste or religion. He would only talk about talented players who he thought would benefit the team. And most of the time, those players were Maharashtrians," Pandit, who is currently the coach of Madhya Pradesh, told mid-day.com from Indore.

Cricket Association of Uttarakhand secretary Mahim Verma alleged that former India opener Jaffer backed religion-based selections and invited maulvis to the dressing room. Jaffer in a press conference on Wednesday quashed the allegations. He insisted that he quit as Uttarakhand coach only because of the bias displayed by the selectors and secretary for non-deserving players. The only thing he changed is the team slogan, to ‘Go Uttarakhand.'

Pandit hailed Jaffer as a team man. "He is an out-and-out team man. If any player was deserving, he would talk about him. It didn't matter what religion he belonged to. He was a bridge between me and the rest of the players. He would be my go-to man," said Pandit.