Wasim Jaffer

Cape Town: After 84 runs in ten innings (including four in Tests) on the tour, Wasim Jaffer finally got a big one — 116 here on Tuesday. It’s an effort which has attracted much praise and made key backer Dilip Vengsarkar “very happy.”

“Jaffer played a quality innings, one which should help us win this Test and series... I’m very happy for him and the team,” the selection committee chairman told The Telegraph.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Vengsarkar added: “While he hadn’t done anything special till this Test, Jaffer had 20s in both innings at Kingsmead and looked reasonably good... It was a matter of time before he got a big one... I’d always been confident about his ability to play on wickets with bounce...”

Indeed, that’s why he picked him for the ODIs, too.

According to Vengsarkar, he’d spoken to Jaffer before the Indian innings and asked him to “nurse” new opening partner Dinesh Karthik and to “keep him calm.” He said: “Karthik can get carried away, but Jaffer ensured he didn’t... He did what was expected of him...”

Incidentally, Jaffer and wife Ayesha chose to celebrate with a “quiet dinner” at the team hotel (Southern Sun Cullinan) instead of heading for the hugely popular Waterfront.