The Hindu : Young guns blaze away

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Young guns blaze away

By S. Dinakar

Yasir Hameed... rising to the occasion. — Photo: S. Subramanium

LAHORE, MARCH 22. He clenched his fists, raised his bat in triumph, and celebrated like only a man who had undergone much pain could. The last few months had been difficult for Mohammed Kaif.

It's only that his smiling exterior often masks the anguish and conceals the scars, but during moments of true joy, this soft-spoken man can be excused for letting out pent up emotions.

The 23-year-old Uttar Pradesh batsman needed his unbeaten 77-ball 71 at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday night, like a drowning man required oxygen.

Kaif has his limitations, and is certainly no Yuvraj Singh, blessed with an abundance of natural talent. He is more of a foot soldier, who sets himself small targets and often surmounts them. On the field, though, he is second to none, igniting the Indian fielding with Yuvraj. It was Kaif's spectacular catch to dismiss Shoaib Malik at the business end of a high-scoring thriller in Karachi that swung the match in India's favour.

He had come into the ongoing series after being forced to miss the VB tri-nation competition in Australia due a finger injury. As Kaif had the finger wrapped in a plaster, a much-cherished dream - of playing in Australia - lay in tatters; Kaif had to pick himself up and fast. He did respond with a fluent knock in the Karachi ODI, but subsequent failures in Rawalpindi and Peshawar put the pressure right back on him. As he walked out to bat on Sunday night, Kaif must have realised it was a perform or perish situation.

And he delivered with a display that was bristling with energy and passion. Kaif ran like a terrier between the stumps rotating the strike, produced some fluent strokes - he has worked on developing a few new strokes such as the inside out-cover drive, and a whiplash pull. Soon the unforgettable memories of a stirring Indian triumph at Lord's during the Nat West final, 2002, must have come flooding back.

Kaif is back on track, but with worthy contenders like Hemang Badani around, he will always have to work for his place. It must also be understood that, given the No. 7 slot that he normally walks in, it is not always possible for him to build and construct an innings.

Solid batsman

Now to another young batsman. Potentially Pakistan's 26-year-old Yasir Hameed promises much. He has an element of solidity about him without compromising on the need to score fast. Hailing from North West Frontier Province, still in the backwaters of cricketing consciousness in Pakistan, Hameed appears to possess the right kind of attitude for big time cricket.

Pakistan is a team of strokemakers, and on a pitch where there is help for seamers, the side has often crumbled with batsmen, tested in the corridor, perishing to ill-advised strokes. Hameed does appear to be the type of top-order batsman that Pakistan seeks; he is compact in defence, handles the moving ball well using his feet to cover the swing and is judicious in his stroke production. He rarely gets rattled, and his 98 on a pitch that was still seaming in Peshawar was an effort that showed that he could - even if the bigger names failed - could keep one end going.

It must not have been an easy decision for the Pakistan team-management when Hameed was picked ahead of the more exciting Imran Farhat when the decision to include Afridi as an opener for the second ODI was taken. The left-handed Farhat may be flamboyant, but Hameed is more dependable.

If Kaif and Hameed have soared, notwithstanding the burdens and expectations of an India-Pakistan series, the young bowlers have also put their hands up at the crunch too. There was much responsibility on Irfan Pathan, after the injury to Aashish Nehra, but the left-arm paceman who has this old fashioned exuberance in him bowled with much zest. The fact that he can swing the ball both ways from over the wicket makes him a distinct threat and in Peshawar and Lahore the spirited Pathan struck early.

The lanky L. Balaji, despite being a shade expensive on a couple of occasions, has shown a willingness to learn and this was reflected in the lovely yorker with which he castled Moin Khan in Lahore. Rightly, he is bowling a full length in the end overs. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, when provided another chance in Lahore, bowled with craft and guile and is clearly a man with a future.

For Pakistan, Mohammed Sami, who has bowled with plenty of pace and has the wherewithal to achieve reverse swing, can be extremely dangerous when he gets into his groove. Sami's spells in Lahore were full of promise.

And the tall Shabbir Ahmed might often get his radar wrong, but when he settles on an off-stump line, he is the most testing of the Pakistan bowlers from an Indian standpoint with his ability to take the ball away from just short of a good length. If Shabbir does not get into trouble with his action, he will be a distinct threat in the Test series.

On the largely batsmen oriented pitches - the first half at Peshawar was an exception - some bright young cricketers from both India and Pakistan have taken a step forward.

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