Wasim Jaffer to pad up for Vidarbha

If everything goes according to plan, Mumbai will not see Wasim Jaffer pad up for the next season. Instead, the stalwart will bat for Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy.

The 37-year-old, who is currently playing club cricket in England, will be the guiding force for young cricketers of Vidarbha and will be sharing the dressing room with the likes of S Badrinath and R Sathish under the coaching of his former Mumbai teammate Paras Mhambrey.

Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) secretary Prakash Dixit said: "Wasim is a talented cricketer. The basic idea was to bring him here as an additional batsman. He should be like an advisor to the youngsters. Since his cricketing stature is so big, it was easy for us to decide on him," said Dixit.

So did Jaffer approach VCA or vice-versa?

"They are professionals. An association always looks for good cricketers. We both were ultimately on a common platform. We agreed we wanted a batsman and we found him," said Dixit.

A cricketer needs a no objection certificate (NOC) from his current team if he wants to shift to another. Jaffer hasn't applied for it.

"We haven't got any request from Jaffer for NOC. Since he has been one of our important players, we will try to convince him to stay back. But it is up to an individual if he wants to go," said MCA joint secretary PV Shetty.

Jaffer, the highest individual run-scorer in Ranji Trophy, is 241 short of 10,000 runs. He will become the first to do so in India's premier domestic tournament.