'False And Baseless': Wasim Jaffer Refutes Communal Bias Allegations

Former India batsman Wasim Jaffer on Wednesday rejected allegations by Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) officials that he tried to force selections in the state team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali

"First all of, these slogans [Jai Shree Ram or Jai Hanuman] were not there. When we were playing practice matches, these players inside the huddle used to say 'Rani Mata Sacche Darbar Ki Jay.' I didn't hear them say Jai Hanuman, Jai Shree Ram. It is a chant of the Sikh community and we had two people from there, so they used to say that," he said.

Jaffer said that when the team reached Baroda, the venue for their league matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he had recommended that they use chants of 'Go Uttarakhand' or 'Let's do it Uttarakhand' or 'Come on Uttarakhand'.

"...the way Chandu Sir (Chandrakant Pandit) used to do in Vidarbha, that was the idea since the 11-12 players in the team huddle were from a different faith. The allegations are all false and baseless. If there was a communal angle, I would have told them to say Allah-hu-Akbar," he said.

Jaffer played 31 Tests for India, scoring 1944 runs. He is also the all-time highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy with 12,038 runs between 1996 and 2020.

1. I recommended Jay Bista for captaincy not Iqbal but CAU officials favoured Iqbal.
2. I did not invite Maulavis
3. I resigned cos bias of selectors-secretary for non-deserving players
4. Team used to say a chant of Sikh community, I suggested we can say "Go Uttarakhand" #Facts https://t.co/8vZSisrDDl

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) February 10, 2021