Life hasn't been easy for Wasim Jaffer. The son of a bus driver in Mumbai, finances were never easily at hand. It meant that his older brother, Kalim, couldn't fulfill the father's wishes of watching a son play Test cricket. But Kalim did take it upon himself to nurture Wasim.

Today, after his second successive Test fifty, and the second one of genuine class, Wasim thanked his brother for the success. "My brother, Kalim, he is like my coach. He has always looked after me from my younger days. I think he should get all the credit for the way I'm batting.

"When I go in to bat, I don't think that I have to dominate. I just wait for the loose balls and score runs off them. That's the way I play."

Understandably enough, his exquisite square-driving off the back foot has to do with the fact that he had grown up playing rubber-ball cricket in Mumbai. "I have played a lot of cricket with rubber balls in my early days. That helps me a lot in playing the rising deliveries.

In fact, in this month's Wisden Asia Cricket, Kalim Jaffer reveals that "I knew that to suceed at the highest level, good back foot play was crucial...so I insisted on making him [Wasim] practice with a wet rubber ball."

These had been important runs from a man who was dumped when he was just beginning to look the part after two home Tests against South Africa in 1999-2000. "The last Test match was very important for me. I missed out in the first innings and I really wanted to score in the second innings. It happened in this Test as well."

Yet, missing out on the century was painful. "I thought I was looking very good for a hundred. I was determined to get it, but I think that was a good ball. I just nicked it, so I'm very disappointed."

Still, he has played his hand in propelling India to a fairly strong position at the end of day one of a crucial Test match. "The wicket is playing well, the ball was moving a bit in the first session but after that it settled down. We just want to put up a big score, about 400-450 and see how it goes after that"

Whichever way it does go, one thing is for certain: Wasim Jaffer is on his way to bigger things.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com in India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series.

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