The case for Mohammad Kaif
At the time of publishing this post, India are 75 for 6 and almost certain to lose the 3rd test in Mumbai against the Poms. Sachin just got out in a way most off spinners are delighted by. Being an off spinner myself I can vouch for this. A well flighted ball pitching on middle n off on a turning track isn't easy to play. But Indian batsmen have become masters at handling off spinners in particular. A well flighted turning ball on off stump is usually converted into a half volley or simply hoiked away over or through the gap between mid wicket and mid on. A deft flick of the wrist and we have the poor off spinner trudging back to start over. However, in this case all an unsure & ill at ease Sachin could manage was to prod the ball onto his front pad, nicely setting it up for Ian Bell to gobble it up at short leg.
With all due respect to Udal, he is no Murali or even an out of form Bhajji. With no lethal "doosra" in his armoury, Udal should at best be considered a minor threat, the weak link in the England bowling.
Now Sachin has averaged around 18 runs in the last 9 innings he has played. My case is simple: we have an Australian in charge and hence there is hope. Lets do it the Australian way. That is: NO ONE is indispensible. If a man is out of form (as Sachin surely is, bogged down by injuries to compound it), then that man cannot command a place in the team. No one better than the Aussies have demonstrated this truth to their players. Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke (my pip for a to-be legend), all these players and a lot more who would walk into any test side anywhere, have been given this message: if you dont score, you're out.
To a certain extent this has been made easy for the Indian selectors thanks to Sachin's (timely?) injury. The case for Mohammad Kaif being included in this Indian set up on a more regular basis has grown sore at the throat from all its pleas. Here you might sense a bias coming in but I would justify it by saying that I have (albeit 6 years back) played against a young Mohammad Kaif and way back then he had earned himself his first fan: yours truly. Since that day I have followed his career through the labrynths of domestic cricket closely and watched him emerge as a vital part of the new India. But sadly, his precocious talent & keen cricketing brain are being used more to liven up the dressing room than lighten up the field.
If ever there is a time for Kaif to put his hand up, it is now in the One Day series against the Poms. Kaif must use the same path that Yuvraj has made use of to bludgeon his way into the test arena. Only then will India begin to build a team which in 2 years time MAY challenge the poms and the aussies in their backyards.
And lets not even begin to discuss the likes of Raina.
