DNA Web Exclusive: Rahul, Pant must spend time with Pujara, says Mohammad Kaif ahead of Perth Test

Team India kick-started the four-Test series on a flying note by winning the first match at the Adelaide Oval by 31 runs. By doing so, Virat Kohli's touring side became the first-ever Indian team to win the opening Test of a Down Under tour. 

Australian summers mean winter in most parts of the world, and it does get chilly in most of India. The time difference sees fans setting their alarm at freezing 5 am in India, and brave conditions to watch their team Down Under.

Sony Network, the broadcasters of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 have incentivised the fans with entertainment during the breaks. Their Extra Innings and the wraparound show have expert panellists in Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Clarke, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra and among many big names is former Indian cricketer, Mohammad Kaif.

From 1996 till today.. Pakki yari  @MohammadKaif #AUSvIND 1st test Adelaide 2018 pic.twitter.com/7qFnIihJPO

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) December 6, 2018

With 138 international caps for India, Kaif retired from all forms of cricket earlier this year, almost 12 years after he last played for the India in which he produced his acrobatic fielding that was as effective as his batting down the order.

The cricketer-turned-commentator Kaif spoke to DNA ahead of the second Test between India and Australia and when asked where does he think the tourists need improvement going into the second Test, he said, "The bowlers have been fantastic for the last few overseas tours, so yes the batsmen will have to work a bit harder in terms of scoring runs. The likes of KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, who anyway is out with injury, and Rishabh Pant need to score more.

Pujara, meanwhile, will want to continue his form and Rahane, who got some runs in the second innings, will want to carry his form from Adelaide's second innings forward especially that he is the vice-captain."

"Australia is always a tough place to tour but once you get going, you want to keep repeating that in every single game. The likes of Rahul and Pant generally have got a similar kind of mindset. They are attacking batsmen and want to score quick runs but then they have to learn to bring in the balance when they are playing Test cricket, especially during an overseas series. They must watch how Pujara batted in the first innings, probably talk to him, spend time with him and understand his mindset. 

To bat for longer hours, you need to approach the defensive technique, learn to leave a lot of balls and make the bowlers work hard. Let the bowlers come to you, rather you going after the ball and that's old school style of batting in Tests. All the legends of the game like Sachin [Tendulkar] and [Rahul] Dravid have done that. So, I think these guys must watch their videos and also learn from Pujara and Rahane as they prepare for the next Test," Kaif added.

PC: AFP

Before the first Test, while there was just one available slot in the team, but there were two candidates - Rohit and Hanuma Vihari - competing for it. Eventually, Kohli went with limited-overs specialist Rohit ahead of Vihari, who probably is a better five-day player with his spin option as an added advantage.

This was for the second time this year when Kohli roped in Rohit ahead of a Test specialist. Earlier, Rohit, who was in red hot form at home after a brilliant Sri Lanka series, was included in the XI ahead of Rahane during the first Test in South Africa and the, unfortunately, the gamble turned out to be poor as Rohit scored just 11, 10, 10, 47 before getting dropped as he made way for Rahane. 

Rohit's calendar is generally jam-packed with national duty, and that can be the reason he has not been able to give a lot of time to Mumbai in Ranji Trophy. Hence, Rohit's selection criteria is generally his form with the white-ball game.

When asked if it fair to select Rohit by his limited-overs performance ahead of, someone who has been consistent in the First-Class circuit, Kaif said, "Yes, I can understand that. I mean, he is a fantastic player; he captained the Indian team to the Asia Cup victory in the UAE in the absence of Kohli, and then came back home and once again led and did well for India in the limited-overs whenever he was asked to.

So, I feel it's very tempting for a captain and management to pick an in-form Rohit Sharma irrespective of the format and when you pick him, you don't want to bench a player like him. So, he always gets a special place in the team when he is in a great form. Rohit wants to score runs quickly, but he also wants to prove a point in Test cricket. Even in the first innings, he scored some quick runs, hit three sixes and was also compact but sometimes being an aggressive player you know, you can play too many shots that can come to your downfall."

While the other batsmen threw away their wickets one after the another during India's first innings in the Adelaide Test, Pujara stuck to his basics and rescued India with the bat. He scored his 16th Test century and also reached the 5,000-run mark in the longest format.

Explaining what Pujara means to the Indian team right now, Kaif said, "By batting at No. 3, you have to control the innings and he showed the suppression when the pitch was certainly not easy to bat on. This Adelaide Test's pitch was not the pitch we knew in Adelaide that was always easy to bat on on the first two days. This time around, it was totally opposite. It was spongy, it made driving the ball difficult as you saw most of the batsmen got out in the similar fashion when they went to drive the ball. 

So, I thought Pujara used his patience to defend – his main weapon for conditions and pitches like these – he leaves the balls like anything, he makes the bowlers come to him, he is a great leg-side player so yes, he tests the bowlers' patience and that makes him a brilliant Test cricket player."

Pujara scores his 16th Test fifty. PC: AFP

Kaif agreed that the current Indian team is the best fielding unit the country has ever produced in cricket. When asked if Yo-Yo test is the right criteria to go about the selection, the Allahabad native immediately disagreed to it.

"I don't think it's [Yo-Yo test] is the right way to go about it because you need to find a balance here. Cricket is a skill-based game. Yes, of course, you have to be fit if you are playing for India and Kohli has set an example for it. Since he is the fittest player in the team and under his captaincy, he wants the fittest team in the world and that's fair enough but I don't think it should work that way. 

When we played, there were lots of players were not the fittest, to be honest, but they were fit on the field – they could bat for two days, when it came to bowling they could bowl long spells and when it came to fielding, they could dive on the field. We had these tests earlier as well, they fared average but those guys were the best in their respective departments."

There could be no better person than Kaif who could judge India's current state on the field because his acrobatic fielding is still talked about whenever the man is mentioned.

While Kaif is content with Indian guys on the field, he is far away from being impressed with their slip catching in Test cricket. 

"Earlier we had only a few great fielders but now the percentage has increased. But, I really believe India need to improve their slip-catching, especially in the overseas tours. In the last match in Adelaide, I remember probably one catch came at slips in comparison to the ones that went to Pant behind the wickets. That one catch at slips was dropped by Pujara. So yes, slip fielding was not much tested at Adelaide but it will be at Perth so these guys have a lot of work to do in this case. 

But, overall the fielding standards have gone up. I want their target to be at least 70-80 percent when it comes to slip-catching, they cannot afford to drop those."

Kaif, however, praised Australia's slip catching as the hosts did not spill any catch in the first Test. 

"When we went to England, they were terrible too in fielding and slip catching, but not that ours was any nicer. But, I really enjoyed the fielding and slip catching so far from the Aussies. I think they hardly dropped any catches in the slip cordon. Be it [Peter] Handscomb, [Aaron] Finch, Tim Paine or even [Usman] Khawaja, if you remember that one-handed catch to dismiss Kohli. Right now these guys are on the top where fielding is concerned," Kaif said. 

Before signing off, Kaif praised the expansion of Ranji Trophy to smaller states and the Indian Premier League and suggested that the domestic structure in India is one of the major reasons for India being No. 1 in Tests and at No. 2 in the limited-overs formats. 

"The likes of Dhoni, Pathan brothers, I came from a small town of Allahabad from UP, Munaf Patel came from a small village, so yes, things are changing and BCCI has done a great job here. I think the franchise cricket has made a big difference because the young talents are going out there and scouting so BCCI must be given the credit for IPL.

The pool has become much larger and that's a great thing that there is so much of competition. People are waiting for their turn and when they get an opportunity they grab it and maybe that's why we are No. 1 Test side, and right up there in limited-overs too. We have a group of young talent from where we can choose and pick. The Ranji expansion, NCA and zonal academies also make a big difference," Kaif signed off.