Mumbai kid Armaan Jaffer scores triple ton after recovering from injury

Armaan Jaffer waves his bat at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday

When Mumbai's Armaan Jaffer suffered an injury while warming up on the eve of the U-23 match against Gujarat at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground in September 2017, he never imagined it would cost him his entire season.

The Grade Three ligament tear meant that his trips to hospitals outscored his visits to cricket grounds. Luckily, the injury did not require surgery. Armaan played his first competitive match against Rajasthan earlier this month and scored 84 and 45 in Mumbai's five-wicket win in the opening match of the U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy.

Yesterday, the nephew of India Test opener Wasim Jaffer smashed a triple century as Mumbai posted a mammoth 610-5 declared in reply to Saurashtra's first innings total of 175 at the Wankhede Stadium. Saurashtra were 157-4 in their second innings at stumps on the penultimate day.

Back in 2014...
This was the second long injury lay-off for Armaan. His 2014 ankle injury required surgery and left him out of action for over six months. "This time it was quite frustrating as I had to sit out for more than a year. I wanted a century, but never expected to convert it into a triple ton. I would like to thank the selectors, who believed in my ability and selected me without any trial games," Armaan told mid-day after his 367-ball knock that was laced with 26 boundaries and 10 sixes.

Such was the impact of his ligament tear that he can't forget the date of its occurrence. "I will never forget September 18. I could not play cricket for a year and all I could do is work in the gym and do my rehab," said Armaan, who read Alibaba's co-founder Jack Ma's book while nursing his injury.

Armaan, along with Prithvi Shaw and Sarfraz Khan, form the troika of Mumbai's next generation batting stars. While Prithvi, the youngest of them, has progressed to the Indian team, Armaan and Sarfraz are yet to cement their places at the first-class level.

Happy for Prithvi Shaw
"I am happy with Prithvi's progress, but I am disappointed with myself that I haven't been able to be consistent at the first-class level. I have lost more than two years of cricket due to injuries. I am just returning now and I want to keep playing more matches," said Armaan.

November 16 is special to Wankhede Stadium on which Armaan scored his triple century - a day when Sachin Tendulkar bid farewell to international cricket (v West Indies in 2013). For young Armaan, November 16 will be special too and signal the start of something big.

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