Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif

[JaiMurugan]

Just Thinking,

It's been 5 years roughly since the famous partnership by these two at Lords in the Natwest Final.
back then, they were described as the "future of Indian cricket" by several pundits.

Now in 2007, Yuvraj is established only in the ODI team and Kaif is nowhere to be seen....
Questions I have are, do you think Yuvraj can become an established test player and be the first in line to replace the ageing quartet of Tendulkar, Dada, Lax And Dravid ?
Can Kaif become an established player in both forms or do you think these two will be superseded by a new generation of batsmen e.g Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Tiwary ???

 

[adharcric]

Yuvraj will become a fixture in the test side IMO. Kaif will probably be remembered as a missed opportunity for Indian cricket as there are far too many prospects who are already well set in domestic cricket - Sharma, Tiwary, Raina, Pujara, etc. Let's hope I am wrong about Kaif and he becomes Dravid's successor.

 

[haroon510]

yuvraj singh better than Kaif in both form of the cricket
yuvraj could replace Tendulker in near future. this guy is amazing. his timing, his style of bating. i rate him over laxman, sehwag, Kaif, and other new young indian batsmans.

 

[Richard]

Never rated Kaif too highly, TBH - that was probably just one of a few days in the sun he enjoyed around that time.

Yuvraj was already established as a good ODI player by then, and has continued to do well in that form. I've never been completely sold on him as a Test player or not and I'm still not.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Kaif got messed around the batting order a bit I think - he began at number seven, before it became obvious that India needed a big hitter lower down the order. Then he played musical chairs in the middle-order and never really settled. He'd have been a fixture by now in my books if one of Tendulkar, Ganguly or Dravid hadn't been on the scene.

Raina looks a better prospect now though.

 

[HariDesi]

Yuvraj should be in the test side after a few of the older players retire and possibly even before. He's in the test squad for England but I don't think he'll get in ahead of Laxman if we play 4 bowlers.
Kaif seems to have done fairly well for UP after being dropped and could still make a comeback in ODI's although I have a feeling that the selectors will overlook him in favour of some of the younger talent developing like Rohit Sharma.

 

[Perm]

Mohammad Kaif has been treated very poorly by the selectors and although he doesn't have an overly impressive First Class record I have always thought that he would make a pretty decent Test batsman, and his ODI credentials speak for themselves. Yuvraj on the other hand seems to have that 'x' factor that people are looking for and despite having a similar FC record to Kaif, is usually talked about more as an option in Test cricket. He has been in superb ODI form over the last couple of years, and combined with the emergence of MS Dhoni as a supremely effective batsman in ODI cricket India have found a good combination in the lower order.

 

[R_D]

Yeah Kaif's been screwed around by selectors too often.. he's looked pretty good in test matches. Hopefully he makes a come back into the team sometimes soon.
As for yuvraj he needs grow a brain... he looks so good when he's on and than throws it away most of the time.

 

[Nishant]

Yeah Kaif's been screwed around by selectors too often.. he's looked pretty good in test matches. Hopefully he makes a come back into the team sometimes soon.
As for yuvraj he needs grow a brain... he looks so good when he's on and than throws it away most of the time.

dont really see kaif getting back TBH..it will be a definite suprise...but i think his 'generation' is gone and its time for the nxt set of youngsters who havent been tried out yet.

 

[Richard]

Don't really see how Kaif's been screwed-around, as such... he's not as good as any of Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman or Ganguly, or Yuvraj Singh for that matter. Can't immediately think of anyone else who's been picked in front of him.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Can't immediately think of anyone else who's been picked in front of him.

In the one dayers Raina, Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Mongia have all been picked ahead of him. I suppose your talking about tests though?.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, Tests. That was what R_D mentioned.

 

[Nishant]

In the one dayers Raina, Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Mongia have all been picked ahead of him. I suppose your talking about tests though?.

in ODIs...i dont really consider kaif that good TBH...unless he bats at no.3..but then we got too many other players who are better than kaif to bat at no. 3...as i said, i just think his time has passed.

 

[jeevan]

Ganguly, before he was finally dropped in 2005, was picked a few times ahead of Kaif - certainly in tests.

Dont know if Kaif is good or not but his generation has not passed. Not every new player needs to be 22 or under - have to get past this subcontinental obsession. Strauss, Hussey, Stuart Clark are all brilliant finds who got their breaks in the late 20s.

When Tendulkar/Ganguly/Laxman/Dravid retiire over a couple of years - Kaif will be 28-29 and it is quite OK to consider him along with or even over the then 18-22 yr olds. His electric fielding is also something that needs to be in the mix.

 

[TT Boy]

I really like Yuvraj, great to watch but at 25 he really should be stepping it up now. Gives his wicket away far too often, especially in test cricket where he always seemingly makes a 'start' only to be caught flashing hard outside off stump.

 

[R_D]

Don't really see how Kaif's been screwed-around, as such... he's not as good as any of Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman or Ganguly, or Yuvraj Singh for that matter. Can't immediately think of anyone else who's been picked in front of him.

he's goten a rough deal fair few times...
In the WI's he was one of the leading batsman in the ODI series and he missed the next series to SA. he also had few good test knocks as well but everytime he scored he was pretty much out of the next match. He's certainly shown ore than yuvraj in test matches anyway. Yuvraj looks good but never goes on with in test matches and only time he seems to score runs is when pressure is off and its just about certain india's going to lose the test match. Kaif has delivered in test matches when it has mattered... he had fighting knock against the aussies, against England recently. The point in that he hasn't really been given string of matches to show his worth in test matches.

 

[Sanz]

he's goten a rough deal fair few times...
In the WI's he was one of the leading batsman in the ODI series and he missed the next series to SA. he also had few good test knocks as well but everytime he scored he was pretty much out of the next match. He's certainly shown ore than yuvraj in test matches anyway. Yuvraj looks good but never goes on with in test matches and only time he seems to score runs is when pressure is off and its just about certain india's going to lose the test match. Kaif has delivered in test matches when it has mattered... he had fighting knock against the aussies, against England recently. The point in that he hasn't really been given string of matches to show his worth in test matches.

Totally Agree with the above. Kaif has indeed got a raw deal from National Selectors.

 

[Manee]

Yes...here is the proof.
TESTS

Series         Win   Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0

England in India, 2005/06 [Series]
                 -     1    1   0    91  91    -    -   91.00   0   1   0
India in West Indies, 2006 [Series]
               Ind     4    6   2   226 148*  46*  13   56.50   1   0   1

BUT ODIs not so good and warrented the drop from ODIs.

India in West Indies, 2006 [Series]
                WI     5    5   1   205  66*  62   61   51.25   0   3   0
India in Sri Lanka, 2006 [Series]
                 -     1    0   0     0   -    -    -     -     0   0   0
DLF Cup (Aus/Ind/WI) in Malaysia, 2006/07 [Tournament]
               Aus     2    2   1    22  21    1*   -   22.00   0   0   0
ICC Champions Trophy (Aus/BD/Eng/Ind/NZ/Pak/SA/SL/WI/Zim) in India, 2006/07 
 [Tournament] 
               Aus     1    1   0    30  30    -    -   30.00   0   0   0
India in South Africa, 2006/07 [Series]
                SA     3    3   0    28  10   10    8    9.33   0   0   0

 

[R_D]

Yes...here is the proof.
TESTS

Series         Win   Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0

England in India, 2005/06 [Series]
                 -     1    1   0    91  91    -    -   91.00   0   1   0
India in West Indies, 2006 [Series]
               Ind     4    6   2   226 148*  46*  13   56.50   1   0   1

BUT ODIs not so good and warrented the drop from ODIs.

India in West Indies, 2006 [Series]
                WI     5    5   1   205  66*  62   61   51.25   0   3   0
India in Sri Lanka, 2006 [Series]
                 -     1    0   0     0   -    -    -     -     0   0   0
DLF Cup (Aus/Ind/WI) in Malaysia, 2006/07 [Tournament]
               Aus     2    2   1    22  21    1*   -   22.00   0   0   0
ICC Champions Trophy (Aus/BD/Eng/Ind/NZ/Pak/SA/SL/WI/Zim) in India, 2006/07 
 [Tournament] 
               Aus     1    1   0    30  30    -    -   30.00   0   0   0
India in South Africa, 2006/07 [Series]
                SA     3    3   0    28  10   10    8    9.33   0   0   0

They take him to tour of WI when he's scored nothing and once he has shown that he's regained his touch... they boot him out of the team. Nat selctors are ****ed in the head.

 

[Richard]

So is Ganguly not a better Test batsman than Kaif then?

AFAICS, picking Ganguly ahead of him is not him having a raw deal.

There are better Test batsmen in India than Mohammad Kaif, that's why he's never played many Tests, not because he should have been selected when he hasn't been.