Weekly Sports Newsletter: Why did Wriddhiman Saha receive support whereas Wasim Jaffer did not?

  • Feb. 26, 2022, 11:44 a.m.

It wasn’t too far back in time when Wriddhiman Saha was Superman for fans. They celebrated his diving catches by photoshopping a flowing red cape to his airborne pictures, turning them into viral celebratory memes.

Time flies fast in Indian cricket. Saha, at present, doesn’t quite come across as a superhero.

Dropped from the Test team, bullied by a reporter and apparently betrayed by the system – starting with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly – he couldn’t be blamed for walking away from the spotlight with the angst that wicketkeeping was, after all, nothing but a thankless job.

Those who stood by him were the ones who had shared a dressing room with him. There was an outpouring of support from players, who pressed him to reveal the name of the phantom interview-seeker with a threatening tone. So far, so good.

But then something unusual happened which hinted that there was more to this story. Showing uncharacteristic alacrity, the rarely-heard-of players’ body – Indian Cricketers Association – swung into action.

Calling the episode "totally unacceptable", they said: "At the ICA, our foremost concern is the welfare of cricketers, past and present, and we cannot accept such behaviour from anyone, let alone a journalist. We are fully with Saha and request him to reveal the journalist’s name. Should the BCCI feel the need to cancel the erring journalist’s accreditation and access to any BCCI event, we will fully support the move."

Exactly a year back, in February last year, there was another cricketer who needed support, but was left to fend for himself. None of his team-mates rallied around him. The ICA was conspicuous by its silence.

Former India Test opener and the highest-ever run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, Wasim Jaffer, had a forgettable coaching stint with Uttarakhand. He left the team mid-season, triggering an unsavoury controversy.

READ |Ganguly said as long as I am here, you would be in team: Wriddhiman Saha

Without any sort of inquiry, the Uttarakhand officials said that Jaffer had a communal bias and promoted Muslim players. In one sweep, they hadn’t just tried to malign the man with impeccable conduct on and off the field, but had also attempted to stain the sport that was emblematic of the country’s diversity.

Jaffer was suddenly alone. He had to make calls to the few reporters he knew, and organise a press conference to present his side of the story.

He would talk about the undue interference of officials in selection as the reason for his premature departure. Jaffer had grace; he was silent about his employers when he had resigned. It was only after he was pushed to a corner and instigated with serious allegations that he gave his version and narrated the ills of his previous workplace.

"This is the lowest one can go. These allegations of me being communal are sad," he would say.

Before his miraculous transformation into a present-day social-media influencer, known for his Bollywood-inspired wit and a running meme battle with former England captain Michael Vaughan, Jaffer was a man of few words. He was the archetypal Indian cricketer of his era.

Humility personified

A couple of years back, when Jaffer had ended his long career after more than two decades of prolific run-making, The Indian Express reporters Sriram Veera and Devendra Pandey visited his modest home to stitch together a tribute piece. It was an unusual living room they were welcomed into. Unlike other cricketers, Jaffer didn’t have frames of himself celebrating hundreds on the walls. "It feels arrogant to have your own picture in your home," he would say.

Jaffer’s wife would say he hardly ever showed anger. Saha too is similar. Abhishek Purohit’s incisive profile of the Bengal ’keeper, too, has a line that brings Jaffer to mind. "Saha’s wife has said in the past that his inexpressiveness of sadness or joy is the only thing she would like to ‘cut marks for’."

Men like Jaffer and Saha took pains all their life to stay away from the limelight and focus on being in the headlines because of their cricket. They are men who don’t believe in hype; and let their performance do all the talking. These unassuming cricketers didn’t have the support of powerful lobbies or agents. They were old-school cricketers, not quite the brands that sell cars and noodles. They didn’t put out training videos before selection-day. They were not even equipped to network with influencers to get that one important extra series during a slump or an unexpected recall.

Unfortunately, it was the system that dragged them into these ugly spats and made them bitter about the betrayal.

Probably they were not in tune with the real world. Saha took Ganguly’s word when he assured him a long rope in the Test team. Jaffer too believed that dressing room linen shouldn’t be washed in public, a cricketing tradition that the Uttarakhand officials didn’t follow.

 

As cricketers, both had flaws. Maybe, they didn’t adjust well to the blowing winds of change. They found it tough to face the challenge of the times they were in. When they were at their peaks, the cricket ecosystem was witnessing a watershed transformation. They also were competing for a spot in the team with icons of the game. Imagine, their degree of difficulty, Saha had to be better than MS Dhoni and Jaffer had to outshine Virender Sehwag.

Despite the hurdles and competition, they were role models and team players. Both played the game with dignity, they deserved better treatment.

While the non-reaction of the cricketing community to Jaffer’s plight was shocking and drowned in sweeping silence, the overwhelming official support to Saha came as a surprise.

In the recent past, there have been pandemic woes of domestic cricketers, issues of late payment to international stars but the players’ body hasn’t quite taken to the streets.

So why did their heart bleed for someone like Saha, who had even called out BCCI president Ganguly? Is BCCI finally a glorious democracy, where dissent isn’t frowned upon? Not quite.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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