It is absolutely outrageous that Kaif is made the scapegoat once again !! It looks our team management does not think rationally. You can accomodate an out of form Sehwag, and you have a place reserved for Laxman who is due for another lacklusture show given his current form. But Kaif with a match-saving performance has to sit out!! Can you imagine this happening in any other country ? I smell some foulplay here. I think Kaif is being dropped for non-cricketing reasons. Poor Kaif. He is completely unlucky to be at the mercy of our "bunch of jokers".
Drop Kaif for a proven performer? I suggest we drop Sehwag who is a "one score in 10 innings" proven performer. I m really surprised by our tolerance for Sehwag. If a batsman is stylish we get so enamoured by him that we judge him differently. People say he is low on form, but he Always seems to be low on form. One double century on a flat wicket(which everybody and their mom can hit) and a (mile long) string of failures. A little movement on the pitch and our boy is completely helpless. In fact he is so bad that he has reduced Dravid to the role of a de facto opener which is sad. He is so technically flawed that an average seamer with a little movement can kill him off. Honestly do we really need him? The argument "Thats how I play" shows how little character he has and his inability to improve his game. I say drop him and get a Real opener like Jaffer and Not sacrifice Kaif.
Y always this happens with Kaif,no doubt Yuvi is a talented batsman, and he should be in side, but there are too many big names in Indian side who are not performing well. They are in side because they were great players.For example VVS Laxman is continuously out of form, so y not he be replaced.
There seems to be a serious politics going on regarding the future captain of India. Its very clear that Kaif is an outstanding choice, but probably the Punjabi lobby (Bindra et al) is propping up Yuvraj for the captaincy of India in coming years. Yuvraj is no doubt a talented batsman but captaincy is another matter which takes different attributes and among the present lot Kaif seems to be the best choice. But dropping him again and again could also be aimed at breaking his confidence (and when in the team he rarely gets to bat above no. 6 or 7, which according to experts is a sure way to kill a career of a batsman) so he may not even make it to the team as a batsman and so forget about captaincy and thus make a clear way for Yuvraj.
I always fail to understand why the Indian selectors always seem to push a person right when he seems to get back in touch without axing someone who hasnt performed for ages. Kaif was one of the major person (rather 'THE' person) to help that series statistics not to read 1-0 in favour of England (who are supposedly playing with inexperienced players). And also previously Kaif has proved to be strong against the english attack. On the other hand players like Laxman and Sehwag.....kept in the team for a while without any significant performance in the past few series. Particualrly Laxman....who's statistics probably is even worst than Ganguly's is given chances after chances. Why cant he be shown the doors and obviously if he can prove himself in domestic circle he could always be called back. I wish Greg Chappell would have made some 'public comment' about this weird selection procedure of Indian cricket team which we keep on seeing again and again.
it is a pity that kaif is to be dropped to accommodate yuvaraj singh. yuvaraj singh's return is welcome and one of the rare performing REPORTEDLY TOP RANKING BATSMEN - SEWAG OR TENDULKAR, can be dropped if india really thinks on long term prospects.
Now it's the turn of Kaif to be dropped after playing a match-saving knock at Nagpur!
Raina was dropped after Nagpur without being tested.
How many crucial/big innings have Laxman played of late? He was a complete failure at Karachi and at Nagpur. But he is being retained at the cost of in-form players like Kaif and young prospects like Raina.
Earlier it was Ganguly who was dropped twice, once against Lanka after Delhi and once against Pakis after Karachi, surely for non-cricketing reasons although the official, rather officious, reason was 'looking ahead to World Cup 2007' (would WC-2007 have test matches this time?)!!
Neither Jaffer nor Gambhir got a single test match to play in Pakistan while Dravid was sent to open (and score tons) on dead wickets at Lahore and Faisalabad although Ganguly was initially being told to open with Sehwag.
Nobody clearly knows why VRV Singh is being brought into the team no matter whether he is fully fit (remember the Lanka ODIs) or there are better domestic performers (earlier it was Zaheer Khan and recenlty it is Munaf Patel).
Can't we at least expect our Bramha-Vishnu-Maheshwar (read More-Dravid-Chappell) to be consistent!!!
I think if this happens, it will be the biggest mockery in cricket.Why don't they replace Laxman or Sehwag with Yuvi.Why Kaif, who saved them in Nagpur from loss and make us feel safe.And also not to forgot he is much better fielder then Laxman, who is out of form from last many innings except his 90 against Pak in 2nd test.Kaif is also a good prospect as he lifts the team with his fielding efforts too and he hasn't received much chances to prove himself.
It is unfortunat ethat a player like Kaif cannot find a place in teh indian team.
He deserve sto b epicked ahead of Yuvraj Singh in tests as he is equipped withthe right temperament and maturity.
He i sthe ONLY player in the younger lot who has a high level of maturity and somethign upstairs and there for ehe has to be in the thick o fthings in both forms of tehgame.
