‘Seeing seniors in domestic cricket motivates young players’: Punjab head coach Wasim Jaffer

Punjab head coach Wasim Jaffer said the presence of senior stars in the domestic circuit was a source of “motivation” for young cricketers, citing the example of India’s ODI vice-captain Shubman Gill playing for his team. He said it would be a factor. Gill will be part of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match between Punjab and Karnataka in Bengaluru starting Thursday, along with Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. Other top stars will also be participating in this round of the tournament.

“If you want to be an international cricketer and you want to be successful, young players need to learn from them (senior stars) on how to play the game. It’s very motivating,” Jaffer told reporters here. Ta.

“In our case, if a young player comes into the side, we will see up close how he (Gill) approaches his work, how he prepares, how he plays.

“How do you prepare when he’s in the hotel? That’s a huge learning experience. I’m sure a lot of the young players in our team will do that,” he added.

While Gill is with Punjab, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and opener Abhishek Sharma will be absent as they are part of India’s T20I team against England.

“We have been going through it throughout the season. Even in the Ranji Trophy, we lost Prabhu Simran Singh, Nehal Vadela, Ashdeep and Abhishek as they were away on the Emerging Tour. In fact, Abhishek has played once in the Ranji Trophy. He has not participated in this season.

“We are happy that they can play for India. But whenever they are available, they come and play, which is good. And it (their absence) will help the young players. It gives them a chance to come and show their mettle,” he added.

Punjab are currently fifth in the group and will face Karnataka in a must-win match, but Jaffer said it was an opportunity for his team to show their mettle under pressure.

“Obviously, we are playing Karnataka, a strong team, irrespective of the position. The pitch here looks like a wicket that will deliver results. It doesn’t look like a flat wicket.”

“You want to play on a sporting pitch, but you have to aim to win. We are going with that approach. We also have a very young squad, but the good thing is that Shubman is available. So it’s a good opportunity to show off our skills against a good team,” he said.

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