The Hindu : Sport : Worst signal in Kaif's non-inclusion

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Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005

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Worst signal in Kaif's non-inclusion

Sports Reporter

The tour would have been ideal to give Kaif and Yuvraj two Tests

— File photo: V.V. Krishnan

Mohd. Kaif.

Bulawayo: Cracking the code of the Indian batting line-up would make Dan Brown salivate; Mohammad Kaif will be suitably puzzled. There is little more one can do as a batsman than score runs when the team needs it most. And hope the selectors take notice.

Kaif was India's best batsman in the Videocon tri-series that preceded the Test series. Promoted to number three and entrusted with responsibility, the 24-year-old strung together scores of 65, 102 not out, eight and 93 not out.

The volume of runs was as striking as its manner.

The first knock came against the backdrop of a Shane Bond ambush that had accentuated Indian batting woes, the second under the pressure of chasing 278 against New Zealand, and the unbeaten knock in the final when others around him were losing their heads. On form and merit, Kaif would have slotted himself into the batting order for the first Test that began on Tuesday.

The reluctance

Instead, Yuvraj Singh occupied the lone batting spot that has opened up after Sachin Tendulkar's withdrawal. Now, the Punjab youngster hasn't done badly himself, scoring two ODI centuries in his last seven innings. He matches Kaif in the field and the pair is the future.

India though shows a marked reluctance to shake off its past and embrace the future. Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and V.V.S Laxman seem cast in stone and at least four of them for good reason. But a tendency to mollycoddle the `Fab Five' — alluded to by Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri — has resulted in a dearth of breakthroughs by youngsters.

The impact of youth can't be over-estimated — Kevin Pietersen replacing Graham Thorpe was England's statement of the Ashes. For India, the only time a pretender can get a look in is when one of the big guns is injured.

Lack of form rarely elbows a player out. This means not all of India's six best batsmen at the moment make the squad.

So the compromise is to drop Sehwag's partner and move either the new man or the wicket keeper up the order. Or do nothing and make standard statements on how the youngster need to keep working hard and how "it's just a matter of time". Either way, there is never more than one spot vacant irrespective of the performance of the stars.

This tour of Zimbabwe would have been ideal to give both Kaif and Yuvraj two Tests. But this would have meant Sourav Ganguly making way. And that's blasphemous in Indian cricket. The shootout then is between the two upstarts. Kaif wins that at the moment and his non-inclusion sends out the worst signal — performance doesn't count.

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