Mohammad Kaif reveals why he and Yuvraj Singh could not play much Test cricket
Former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif has explained why he and former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh found it challenging to gain a place in the Indian Test team. The cricketer-turned-commentator felt the presence of big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Virender Sehwag did not allow the two young talents to receive enough opportunities in red-ball cricket.
Talking to timesofindia.com on Wednesday (17th June), Mohammad Kaif thought that the team management rushed him into the longest format of the game. In his opinion, even though he performed well in the limited opportunities that he received, he could never cement his place in the team because of the presence of other batsmen.
I was surprised at the Test call-up: Mohammad Kaif
Mohammad Kaif was the first Indian captain to guide the nation to the U-19 World Cup win. He later performed consistently in the Challenger tourney that helped him receive an unexpected call-up to the Test squad.
"I was surprised at the Test call-up. Since it was India's first Under-19 World Cup title victory, there was a lot of media hype. There was a Challenger tournament in which most of the Under-19 players got a chance to play. I had two scores in the 90s in back-to-back matches that I played, then I was named in the Indian Test side," Kaif stated.
The former Royal Challengers Bangalore player admitted that since he was inexperienced, he could not tackle the pace of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, and Nantie Hayward in the series against South Africa. The team management dropped him because of his below-par performances, but Kaif's consistency at the domestic level helped him receive another call-up.
Kaif opined that sometimes the selectors rush a budding player into the team, and when he fails in the first few games, he loses his place. The 39-year-old from Uttar Pradesh also said that the Indian team had an excellent batting line-up, and even that factor did not allow him to feature in the playing XI regularly.
"The Indian team at that time was full of big players like Sachin, Dravid, Sehwag. So I and Yuvraj could not play many Tests, even though Yuvraj got more chances than me. I got a chance to play against England in Nagpur (in 2006) when someone got injured and I scored 91. Then that guy got fit and I was dropped again. So that team was so strong that I didn't get many chances to play. They were the greats of the game, legends, players like Sachin, Dravid, inspired us," Mohammad Kaif concluded.