YUVRAJ & KAIF : THE PAIR WITH A TINGE OF NOSTALGIA
2001 to 2004 was quite a memorable period for Indian cricket as Ganguly’s men achieved some of their most iconic triumphs, starting from the famous Kolkata Test in ’01 to the Test series win in Pakistan in ’04. It was special for the fans as well, especially those in their early teens or even younger, like myself; we were witnessing the rise of our new childhood heroes. One of these historic victories came in the NatWest final at the Lord’s in 2002, and from that game, emerged two of our childhood heroes: Yuvraj Singh & Mohammad Kaif.
Yuvraj & Kaif prowling in from backward point and cover, respectively, used to be quite a sight! It was a common picture to see Kaif & Yuvraj, in those nostalgic Team India jerseys with the tricolor on their front, wearing number 11 and 12 respectively, lifting each other after every catch they take. The kids across the nation started diving ferociously in the cricket field to stop the ball, just to imitate Yuvi & Kaif. Quite a dose of nostalgia!
But their tale trails back to January 2000. Mohammad Kaif from Uttar Pradesh, after topping the batting charts for India as a 17-year-old in the Under-19 World Cup 1998, was once again selected for the U19 World Cup 2000 to be played in Sri Lanka; this time as a captain. Yuvraj Singh from Punjab, who had already made his name in the U19 domestic cricket with his flamboyant batting, was an obvious selection for the World Cup. When India’s senior team led by Tendulkar was playing a highly disastrous tri-series Down Under, where they managed to win only 1 out of 8 ODIs, Kaif’s U-19 team was doing wonders in Sri Lanka.
India didn’t lose a single game in their first-ever U-19 World Cup-winning campaign. And the star performer of the tournament was none other than Yuvraj Singh, who was also adjudged Man of the Series award. Kaif would bat at 3 and Yuvraj at 4. Both of them had a good tournament with both the bat and the ball (Interestingly, Kaif bowled more overs than Yuvraj). The word had already spread that Yuvraj Singh is the cleanest striker of the ball in the country after Sachin Tendulkar. And the southpaw proved every bit of it right as he smashed 58 off 25 balls against Aussies in the U-19 semi-final, including 5 sixes. Kaif also had a fantastic Ranji season before the World Cup where he averaged over 69 for UP. It was obvious that these two players were going to be fast-tracked to the senior team.
Kaif got his maiden national call-up right after the U19 WC when he was called to replace Ajay Jadeja in the 2nd Test against South Africa at Bangalore (It was Azharuddin’s last Test before the match-fixing saga unfolded; it also turned out to be Tendulkar’s last Test as India’s captain). India lost the Test, and Kaif’s debut performance wasn’t that great either as he managed to score just 12 and 23. And the glory days were quickly over for him, as he didn’t get another national call-up for about eighteen months after that.
On the other hand, Yuvraj Singh made it to the Indian team in style. On his ODI debut against Kenya in the ICC KnockOut in October 2000, he didn’t get a chance to bat. But when he did, in the next match against Australia, he announced his arrival to the international cricket with a magnificent 84 off 80. An 18-year-old kid was tearing apart probably the world’s best bowling attack at that time: McGrath, Lee, and Gillespie. He cemented his place in the Indian ODI side rather quickly.
But for this Youth World Cup-winning pair, it took more than 2 years to play together for India’s senior team. And what followed pretty much confirmed that they were destined to play together as a pair. It was an ODI against Zimbabwe at Hyderabad. Zimbabwe used to be a much better team back then; in fact, they were leading the 5 match series by 2–1. It was a must-win game for India. Chasing 241, India were once again pushed on to the back foot, struggling at 132–4 after 32 overs. The series was slipping away from India’s hands. Yuvraj Singh walked in to join Kaif after the fall of Dravid in the 32nd over. They made a watchful start as they steadily built their partnership. But once Yuvraj got his eye in, he began to cut loose. Kaif on the other end opted to play the second fiddle and kept rotating the strike. The pair went on to score 96 runs in just 91 balls on their first outing together in the international cricket. Yuvraj scored a stroke-filled 80* (60) and Kaif scored a composed 68 to lead India to the victory. India later went on to win the series as well. India had got a pair they could rely on in times of trouble.
The next time they were batting together was in the second match of the famous NatWest series in England. And guess what, they found themselves in a similar situation once again. Chasing Sri Lanka’s total of 202, India were in deep trouble at 135–5 in 33rd over, with the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid already back in the pavilion. But Yuvraj and Kaif replicated their earlier performance and put on 60 runs from 63 balls to take India home.
The next occasion when they were to bat together doesn’t require much of an explanation, and it came just a couple of weeks later, on July 13th, 2002.
The NatWest Final. Against England. At Lord’s.
India had lost their last 10 finals in a row. Once England had put on the massive total of 325, no one believed that India could win it from thereon. But India, actually, had a capable batting order. They started off the run-chase rather well in the first 10 overs. But it didn’t take too long before the ghost of the finals began to haunt the Indian batsmen; the top order collapsed from 106/0 to 146/5 in no time. Yet another final, yet another defeat; Nasser Hussain’s men seemed to be marching towards the victory.
Enter Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.
And the rest is history. That partnership of 121 was surreal. That was inarguably the best innings Mohammad Kaif ever played. There is a famous banter that took place between Kaif and the English captain Nasser Hussain. When Kaif walked in to bat, one of the fielders, trying to Sledge Kaif, asked Hussain who this guy was. Hussain replied saying, “I think he might drive the bus for the Indian team.” At the end, when Kaif finished sprinting the winning runs, he gave Hussain a certain look, which Hussain describes as — ‘not bad for a bus driver!’
And who can forget Ganguly waving his t-shirt from the Lord’s balcony?
In fact, those winning runs and everything that followed will remain engraved in the minds of Indian fans forever. The Yuvraj-Kaif duo had written an iconic chapter in the Indian cricket history. They had become the national heroes, overnight.
But it wasn’t just their batting that made this duo so popular and significant. It was their fielding as well, and it won’t be an overstatement if we say they actually revolutionized the Indian fielding with the turn of the century. India was always known for their below par fielding standards. During the 1990s, India did have a few good fielders like Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, and Robin Singh. They were reliable fielders who wouldn’t drop catches, and could get odd run outs. But Kaif and Yuvraj were literally electrifying on the field. Not only would they not drop any catches, but they began to convert the half chances into catches as well. They would dive fiercely on their both sides and save the certain boundaries- a hell lot of them. Their fielding became a match-winning asset for the team.
In only his second ODI (the game mentioned earlier where he scored 84 against Australia), Yuvraj Singh showed his fielding prowess. He took a terrific catch flying to his left from the covers to dismiss well-settled Ian Harvey and ran Michael Bevan out with a direct hit.
Kaif was no less, rather even more athletic fielder than Yuvraj. The catch he took to get rid of Nick Knight at The Oval was a piece of sheer brilliance. He ran from square leg towards fine leg and dived forward to pull off a stunning low catch.
But two of the best of Kaif’s fielding moments came in 2003 and 2004. The first one came against England in the 2003 World Cup. India needed to pick up early wickets in order to restrict England from chasing a rather easy target of 250. It was Nick Knight again, who pushed the ball towards mid-off and tried to steal a single; perhaps he had forgotten the speed Kaif had ran at to take that catch at The Oval. Kaif sprinted from the covers, and within a blink of an eye, got hold of the ball and leapt towards the stumps, running Knight out on 1 with a direct hit.
The second one is probably the most popular Mohammad Kaif catch ever, and the most significant as well considering its context. India were visiting Pakistan after more than 6 years. In the very first ODI at Karachi, Pakistan had almost chased down a massive target of 350, but eventually they fell short by just 5 runs, thanks to an abosultely breathtaking catch by Kaif towards the end of the game. Pakistan needed 10 runs from 8 balls, which, for a batsman of Shoaib Malik’s class, was quite achievable. On the 5th ball of 49th over, Malik lofted Zaheer’s length delivery straight over his head; the ball went high in the skies, and it felt like it will probably drop in the no man’s land and Malik will get away with two runs. But Mohammad Kaif ran like a man possessed from long off boundary. Hemang Badani was running in from the other side. Just as they were about to crash into each other, Kaif jumped over Badani, just at the right time; Badani pulled himself down on the ground within whatever little window he got. And what we witnessed was a once in a lifetime piece of catching a cricket ball. Literally breathtaking! Kaif’s fielding had once again proved to be the match-winning asset.
Yuvraj’s best fielding moment came in the semi-final of Champions Trophy 2002 when he timed his jump to perfection and pulled off a blinder at backward point to give India an early breakthrough in the form of Smith. But even after that, it was still pretty much a South Africa’s match, thanks to the solid 178 runs put on by Kallis and Gibbs. Gibbs had to retire hurt on 116. But they had a deep batting line-up and 12 overs still in hand. Jonty Rhodes walked in to join Kallis in the middle. He tried to sweep off Harbhajan, the ball took a top edge and flew right behind the wicket-keeper. Yuvraj Singh, running from the short fine leg, made a full-stretch dive to his right and took a one-handed catch just a few inches above the ground. The game turned on its head, Indians were right back into it and South Africa’s batting collapsed thereafter. It was kind of a tribute in a way - taking such a wonderful catch to dismiss the greatest fielder the world has ever seen — Jonty Rhodes!
Yuvraj at point and Kaif at cover were like a shield that could hardly get breached. Kaif’s fielding was so exceptional that his poor batting performances in the latter half of his career would often go unnoticed. They were match-winners in the field, and also with the bat until Kaif’s batting form got into a slump.
With Suresh Raina’s arrival in 2006, Kaif lost his place in the team. Raina showed consistency in his batting and he was almost as good as Kaif with his fielding. Kaif’s fielding prowess couldn’t overshadow the inconsistency in his batting anymore. Yuvraj went on to become India’s legendary batsman in the following years. But the glorious partnership of Yuvi-Kaif ended right there in 2006.
During 2002–06, they played 109 ODIs together. In the 40 partnerships that they had, they scored 1252 runs with an average of 32 and an impressive strike rate of 89. They took overall 83 catches in these matches, 51 by Kaif and 32 by Yuvraj. Kaif’s overall tally of 55 catches in 125 ODIs was the 5th highest in the world during his stint in the ODI cricket from Jan 2002 to Nov 2006.
They didn’t really have many things in common. Yuvraj was a left hander, Kaif a right hander; Yuvraj had this elegance and nonchalance in his batting, but Kaif didn’t have much of a grace. Yuvraj had an downright aggressive batting approach; Kaif would often bat steadily. They had a different kinds of upbringing and culture as well. Yuvraj was raised in a quite luxurious Punjabi household, Kaif hailed from a middle-class Allahabad family (one common thing here — both were the cricket families, Yuvi’s father had played for India, while Kaif’s father and brother were the First Class cricketers for UP).
But with their common attributes in the fielding, together they protected India’s off-side for 5 long years.
India had a group of excellent fielders once in 70s with Solkar, Parkar, Pataudi, and Wadekar; then they had some good fielders in the 90s. But Yuvraj and Kaif took India’s fielding standards to a whole new level. Their legacy is now carried forward by the likes of Jadeja, Kohli and Pandya; but because of that added tinge of nostalgia which the Yuvi-Kaif duo brings in for our generation, the pair will remain unmatched in our hearts.