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The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) has named former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer as the new head coach of the senior men’s team for the forthcoming domestic season. Jaffer was selected unanimously, surpassing former Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait for the position.
Speculation had circulated about Jaffer potentially replacing Trevor Bayliss as the head coach of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) for the IPL 2025 season. Jaffer, who previously served as the team’s batting coach from 2019 to 2021 and later as a batting consultant, had stepped down from his role before the IPL 2024 auction.
At 46, Jaffer has also been the head coach for Uttarakhand and Odisha state cricket teams. During his tenure with Uttarakhand, he was accused of selection bias by players, which led to his resignation mid-season. Jaffer has since refuted these accusations.
Wasim Jaffer Will Motive The Team To Achieve Success – Amarjeet Singh Mehta
PCA President Amarjeet Singh Mehta has officially announced Wasim Jaffer as the new head coach of the Punjab senior men’s team. Mehta highlighted Jaffer’s extensive experience and expertise, noting that his involvement would be a great source of inspiration for the team. He emphasized that the PCA was eager to seize the chance to collaborate with Jaffer.
“Our main aim is to win the Ranji Trophy and also Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, so we unanimously decided to appoint him as the head coach. With his experience and expertise, we are confident that Jaffer will motivate the team to achieve success. He is one of the best longer format players in the country, and we did not want to miss out on the opportunity of having him on board,” Amarjeet Singh Mehta told Sportstar.
The PCA President emphasized that while Punjab has recently excelled in white-ball cricket, the current focus is on establishing consistency in red-ball cricket.
“We have done reasonably well in white-ball cricket lately, but we want to be consistent in red-ball cricket and that’s why we thought of looking at Jaffer,” Mehta said.
Last season, Punjab clinched both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy under the guidance of former Indian cricketer Aavishkar Salvi, who has since transitioned to the National Cricket Academy. Salvi is now serving as the bowling coach for the India women’s cricket team, while skipper Mandeep Singh will be joining Tripura.
In the 2022-23 season, Punjab made it to the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals but were defeated by Saurashtra and did not advance to the knockout stages in the most recent edition.
Wasim Jaffer, who holds the record for the most runs in Ranji Trophy history with 12,038 runs from 238 innings, led the Mumbai team to Ranji titles in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Additionally, he captained the West Zone to a Duleep Trophy win in early 2010.
