Armaan Jaffer: The new kid on the block

It is not that, very often, we get to see a batsman score a double century at will. Well, if a batsman does that in any level of cricket, he is sure to be a rare talent.

17-year old Armaan Jaffer has done just that. Playing for Mumbai in the U19 Cooch Behar Trophy, he scored 224 runs against Madhya Pradesh, 223 against Odisha, 218* against Karnataka, three consecutive double tons. Jaffer narrowly missed the landmark of four back to back double centuries when he scored 174 runs against Tripura.

In the game against Karnataka, Jaffer batting at No 4 also had two fruitful partnerships. The third wicket partnership between HJ Tamore (86) and Armaan realised 131 runs while the fourth wicket partnership between Armaan and SZ Mulani (117) was worth 250 runs.

These two big partnerships helped Mumbai put up a huge total of 506/4 decl in their first innings and take a lead of 326 runs over their opposition. Making short work of Karnataka in their second knock (204/10), Mumbai went on to win the match by 122 runs.

The dual feat that Armaan achieved of, consecutive double-tons and four ‘back-to-back’ centuries’ is a new record in the tournament. There has been no instance of three consecutive double centuries even in domestic or international cricket.

While there is an instance of four ‘back-to-back’ centuries in ODI format with the Sri Lankan legend, Kumara Sangakkara achieving it in World Cup 2015 (105* against Bangladesh, 117* against England, 104 against Australia and 124 against Scotland), Everton Weeks, Rahul Dravid, Younis Khan, Jack Fingleton and Alan Melville did it in the Tests.

Armaan is also credited with a unique record in school cricket when he went on to score 498 runs for his school, Rizvi Springfield School in 2010 and rewrote the record of 403 runs set by his uncle, Waseem Jaffer.

The young Jaffer was named in the 30-probables for the Mumbai Ranji 2015-16 team but unfortunately, could not make it to the final fifteen.

However, such kinds of performances are not something that can be brushed aside. In all probabilities, Armaan could find himself travelling to Bangladesh as a member of India U19 Word Cup squad. Jaffer is a talent to be closely watched and deserves opportunities while he is in good form.