Former Indian Test cricketer turned Twitter celebrity Wasim Jaffer has once again stirred the cauldron of controversy with his affable statements of love for Pakistan. After England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) cancelled the tour of Pakistan, following the footsteps of the New Zealand Board, Jaffer took to Twitter and felt sorry for Pakistan.
While it is understandable from a neutral perspective that a series being cancelled doesn’t augur well for anyone, but given how the terrorist state Pakistan has been over the years, the well-being of players takes precedence – something which Jaffer conveniently forgot, in his love for Pakistan.
Also read: “Life first, Cricket second” – England sends a very clear message to Pakistan
He tweeted, “The @TheRealPCB have every reason to be disappointed with the ECB. Pak and WI toured England last year during pandemic before vaccines. England owes so much to both Pak and WI. Least ECB could do is not cancel the reciprocal tours. There are no winners when cricket is cancelled.”
Will u take security responsibility of English players? Their leaders maulvis and fundamentalist openly celebrating take our of #Taliban , then which country will play with them? https://t.co/IXM4aUX6A2
— Indian 🇮🇳 (@Woke90752220) September 21, 2021
Safe to say, the netizens weren’t happy with Jaffer’s statements and gave him a dose of a reality check. One netizen asked Jaffer if he would take responsibility for the lives of the players, from the threat of the Taliban and other fundamentalists.
“Will u take security responsibility of English players? Their leaders’ maulvis and fundamentalists openly celebrating take our of #Taliban, then which country will play with them?”
Will u take security responsibility of English players? Their leaders maulvis and fundamentalist openly celebrating take our of #Taliban , then which country will play with them? https://t.co/IXM4aUX6A2
— Indian 🇮🇳 (@Woke90752220) September 21, 2021
Meanwhile, others made it abundantly clear that it was former Pakistani cricketers like Imran Khan and Shahid Afridi supporting terrorism and Taliban in Afghanistan, that led to the cancellation of tours. ‘Terrorism and sports cannot go together’ said one user.
With due respect,
The real reason behind the cancellation is the security issues. Ex cricketer PM
Imran khan and Shahid Afridi
are openly supporting taliban.Cricket is not bigger then lives of cricketer.
Terror and sports can not go together. https://t.co/6WgKkunLaR
— Manan 🇮🇳 (@mananhindustan) September 21, 2021
Communal allegations levelled by Uttarakhand Cricket officials
This is not the first time that Jaffer has had a brush with controversy. In February, earlier this year, the news of Jaffer’s resignation as Uttarakhand’s Ranji team coach had caused a massive controversy.
Turns out, Jaffer had been accused by the state board officials of letting his ‘religious bias’ affect the team selection which led to the dismal performance of Uttarakhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
The communal allegations were levelled by the top-ranking officials of Uttarakhand cricket. Secretary Mahim Verma and Chief Selector Rizwan Shamshad alleged that Jaffer was trying to break the state team due to his blind religious bias. Verma said they initially lent full support to Jaffar and accepted his decisions considering he was a legend in the domestic cricketing circuit of India.
“We gave him whatever he asked for, had a pre-season camp for a month, let him choose his outstation players, trainer, and bowling coach but his interference in selection matters was getting too much,” Verma told PTI.
Verma alleged that Jaffer brought in Iqbal Abdullah, Samad Salla, and Jai Bista as guest players and forcefully made Iqbal Abdullah the captain of the team instead of Kunal Chandela. The result being, Uttarakhand lost four matches out of 5 in the country’s premier domestic T20 tournament.
Jaffer and the ‘Maulvi’ controversy
However, Verma’s sensational allegation that ‘Jaffer used to bring a Maulvi during the team camp’ had brought a lot of negative press at the time. Navneet Mishra, the team manager during the Mushtaq Ali trophy reportedly remarked that three Maulvis had visited the camp and Jaffer told him that the Maulvis had come to read Namaz. This happened twice during the camp.
Jaffer’s ‘Mazhabi’ dictatorial rule as the head coach did not stop here as Mishra exposed that Jaffer had changed the Uttarakhand’s team slogan ‘Ram Bhakt Hanuman ki Jai’ to ‘Go Uttarakhand’. Jaffer was even suggested to incorporate the slogan ‘Uttarakhand ki Jai’ but apparently he had a problem with the word ‘Jai’.
Jaffer in his second innings of life has accumulated a legion of followers on Twitter, courtesy of his witty posts, stories, and banter. However, the heavyweight of the domestic cricket who even played 31 Tests for India has found himself in a sticky wicket at the moment.
