Mohammed Kaif - Where did he go ?

[Durham_CCC]

Has he just disappeared of the earth ?

 

[jeevan]

He may have found his calling in Indian domestic cricket. He's been captaining the UP team, which despite an utter lack of infrastructure and administration - has been putting up great performances, have been in Ranji finals 3 outof last 4 years, winning once.

Kaif has had good talent to work with (Raina, Chawla, Praveen), but has gotten the best out of many others who've chipped in at very crucial times. Doing OK himself too.

Less money and glamour in Indian domestic cricket (though Kaif does have a minor cerntral contract), but definitely he can take more satisfaction in his domestic achievements than being a perennial fringe international. (And with Raina, Badri, Pujara, Rahane probably ahead of him for international duty, he'd continue being on the fringes).

 

[Richard]

Mohammed Kaif - Where did he go ? Has he just disappeared of the earth ?

Nope. Still playing and in fact batting much better than ever at First-Class level now (was just a OD player until recently - only averaged early-40s until about 2004 or 2005 which is no more than OK-ish in India - the best batsmen all average over 50 in First-Class cricket in India).

Unfortunately for Kaif, he's not produced his best scoring in the First-Class game until his late-20s, and that means you can't really expect much of a Test career in India, especially when they have the best batting unit in their history. He's not even a ODI fixture any more and hasn't made the most of his one-day talent. With the likes of Raina and Rohit Sharma coming through, and Gambhir of his own generation now established, he may struggle to return to being a ODI fixture. And with the Yuvraj Singhs and Badrinaths, again of his own generation, now looking to be established in the Test side, his time there should be gone as well.

 

[Goocheslamb]

i really think he would have been great test player, he is not requried in the oneday indian side.

 

[Richard]

i really think he would have been great test player

No. At best he could've been a reasonable Test middle-order batsman like Sanjay Manjrekar, Ravi Shastri or Sourav Ganguly. He was never going to be a Tendulkar, Dravid, Azharuddin, Vengsarkar, Viswanath or probably even a Laxman or Armanath.

 

[masterblaster]

He was never the most graceful or elegant batsman going around, but he's a scrappy, blue collar and determined batsman who can knuckle down and grind out a tough situation. With his recent form, he should've gotten a more serious look into this Indian test side, but as others have mentioned the competition is quite strong.

He really reminds me a lot of Paul Collingwood in that he's not the best batsman to watch and can be quite inconsistent, but he's a great person to have on the team when the chips are down. He's a great athlete and a fantastic fielder too, probably one of the best in India.

 

[Durham_CCC]

I started this thread as I was looking at scorecards from a few year back, noticing he scored 150* against Africa IIRC.

Then lost his way abit. Aji Aggakar, Ramesh Powar aswell

 

[Pothas]

No. At best he could've been a reasonable Test middle-order batsman like Sanjay Manjrekar, Ravi Shastri or Sourav Ganguly. He was never going to be a Tendulkar, Dravid, Azharuddin, Vengsarkar, Viswanath or probably even a Laxman or Armanath.

Think that Ganguly was a bit better than reasonable. Maybe not as good as he should have been and certainly not great but better than reasonable.

 

[adharcric]

He's scoring heavily in domestic cricket but so are the likes of Pujara, Vijay, Rahane, Badrinath and more. Kaif the batsman is a bit of a misfit in general: he can't always score quickly enough in one-day cricket and he doesn't compile the massive innings you like to see in prospective test batsmen.

 

[Richard]

Think that Ganguly was a bit better than reasonable. Maybe not as good as he should have been and certainly not great but better than reasonable.

TBF, Ganguly for the last part of his career was a very fine Test batsman indeed. However, before that he'd always been a little suspect on surfaces offering seam and\or a ball that swung enormously. Had he not had that comeback starting in 2006/07 he'd have gone down as someone excellent against spin and a fine punisher of weak bowling on flat pitches, but not of the capability to do well against the best seamers in Test cricket.

UIMM, most Indian commentators are loathe to rate him above Mohinder Armanath.

 

[Jono]

Love Kaify.

Very good captain, and leads UP really well.

Probably too much competition now for him to return to both the ODI and test formats, at least in the near future.