Steady as he goes

Wasim Jaffer knows where he stands. He knows he is only the third batsman in history to get a double-hundred at Eden Gardens after Rohan Kanhai and VVS Laxman. He knows he is up there among the top run-getters in Tests in 2007 so far. He knows that in a team full of batting legends he has logged the most runs this year for India. For the first time in a stop-start international career that has lasted almost eight years now, he is confident of his place in the team.

Jaffer has finally come some way towards fulfilling the promise he showed all these years as a talented opener for Mumbai. So far this year in Tests, he has two centuries, four fifties and that double to his credit. After the selectors gave him a third life - he made an inauspicious debut in 2000 against South Africa and then lasted five Tests in his second comeback, in 2002-03 - recalling him for the home series against England in March last year, he has made sure to cling on to the rope he has been given. "2007 has been really going well, Alhamdulillah [all praise belongs to God]," he says.

As on the field, Jaffer has a placid, quiet disposition off it. It is often mistaken. "I'm a reserved person by nature and if I meet you for the first time I'll have to trust you to open up. It's not arrogance as people think," he explains.

The turning point arrived four years ago. "I was the youngest of four siblings and was really pampered from the beginning, but after my mom died in 2003 I got quite responsible in my own life and that has helped in my game." In the past Jaffer has spoken about growing in maturity each time he was dropped from the Indian team. Exactly what is maturity to him? "Identifying situations and finding a solution," he says.

Technically Jaffer's Achilles heel has been the late movement of his feet as he gets into position to play. It's still work in progress on that front, but he has improved considerably, even if he sometimes fails to pick the length early, as when he shouldered arms to a Mashrafe Mortaza delivery and lost his off stump to the first ball of the Chittagong Test. Jaffer for his part thinks it's more to do with focus.

There has been no easy solution in this instance. He still tends to be a scratchy starter, scoring either low or big. In 17 of his 45 Test innings, he has been dismissed for single-digit scores; his average score when he gets past 50 is 98.71.

He is beginning to be more consistent, though, and thinks he is increasingly capable of hanging in there to convert starts - unlike in the first phase of his international career. Since March 2006, when he made his latest comeback to the side, he has scored highest (1473 runs) and has the best average (47.50) among Test openers who have scored at least 500 runs. "Giving a good start and getting a big score - that's what I'm trying this year, to be more consistent," he says.

Had Jaffer found that elusive consistency back when he played his first Test, he would possibly be a senior pro in the side by now. "It does cross my mind. Had I played consistently from 2000, I would have played 80-90 Test matches by now. But that's my destiny. I don't complain about too many things.

"I've had three comebacks and earlier I felt I wasn't ready for international cricket, where you need to be mentally really prepared," he says. "Over the years as I went back to domestic cricket, I worked a lot on my game and my mental side, and whenever I was dropped I learned quite a lot.

"My game is more about concentration, spending time at the crease, rather than going bang-bang."

Having said that, he has not managed to completely lose the impulsive streak that has often seen him play a false stroke and give it away. An example came during the Boxing Day Test in Durban last year, in the second innings, when he picked one from outside off and miscued a pull into the hands of square leg. In his defence Jaffer says, "That is one of the shots I score runs with, but sometimes you don't pick up the line and when you get out, it looks bad. But the situation was such that I should have avoided playing that shot, because if we had played 30 or 40 more overs, we could have drawn that Test."

All through our hour-long chat Jaffer talks about the help he has received from providence. How has his faith benefited him? "I believe in destiny," he says. "You put in the effort, but He is the one who gives the results, right or wrong. I believe in Allah and am quite religious." He turns 30 this February. They say the third decade in a man's life is when he establishes himself in the personal and professional spheres. Jaffer thinks he has attained a certain balance.

A large part of that has to do with his marriage, last October, to Ayesha, his girlfriend of four years. "In a way, yes, I've become more stable," says Jaffer. "My wife looks after me a lot. She comes from London but she's willing to give many things up for me and I'm really happy that I have her."

Another significant relationship, this time on the field, has been his partnership with Dinesh Karthik. Jaffer's hundred in Cape Town at the beginning of 2007, came in a defeat for the team, but it saved him in the nick of time from being dropped again. He had had a miserable tour going into final Test of the South Africa series, and is thankful the team management kept faith in him. He draws parallels between his example and the mini-slump Karthik finds himself in. "He has not done well in just three innings and already the media are talking about dropping him," Jaffer points out.

It's no secret that camaraderie between the openers can be key to a team's prosperity, and both Jaffer and Karthik have managed pretty well on and off the field. "Our wives have become good friends," smiles Jaffer. He thinks having a long-term batting partner helps, and that even though Karthik's restlessness may be a stark contrast to his own demeanour, "it gels with my laidback self".

The two have combined well in the past - notably during the England series, where they gave a semblance of stability to the top order with some valuable partnerships. "[In England] I was consistent even if I was not as successful as I would've liked to be. I didn't get a hundred, but as a team we performed well and won the Test series."

Despite the double against Pakistan, Jaffer thinks the true test of his cricketing life is around the corner - the forthcoming Australia series. He started on his preparation a month ago. "Yes, we are short of time for practice, but as a sportsman one has to adapt fast. And seniors do help. I asked [VVS] Laxman, before this Pakistan series, to help me with understanding the Australian surfaces, since he is one who has done well there. So he gave me some plastic balls, and he thinks if I practise with them on cement wickets, the ball comes on at the same speed as on pitches in Australia."

A hidden side of Jaffer is his interest in the history of the game. As a kid and into his teens, he enjoyed reading books about players of various eras. Reading, he says, helps him acquire "a knowledge of how things were at different times. It helps me to get good concentration at times."

His reading, and his experiences of having watched - and now playing with - the greats, have inspired Jaffer. "I want to be noticed, too. I want to become one of the great players, too."

Part of that quest is about earning the respect of his team-mates and the opposition. "If the opposition respects me as they respect [Sachin] Tendulkar, [Rahul] Dravid, [Sourav] Ganguly and Laxman, if I can be counted in the same breath, it will be some achievement," he says. "And for that I need to be consistent in my batting."