Kaif stakes Test claim with brilliant knock

Ashish Shukla in Arundel, England

New batting star Mohammed Kaif strongly put forward his case for a Test slot with a fighting half-century, as Indians salvaged a draw against West Indies 'A' in a three-day match on Thursday.

Set a stiff target of 243 from 40 overs in the final session, West Indies 'A' reached 81 for 4 in 26 overs when both captains agreed for a draw.

Earlier, Kaif pulled the Indians out of trouble in their second innings with a sparkling 77 to help the visitors to 255 all out.

The Uttar Pradesh youngster was chiefly responsible for saving the blushes for Indians, as he batted almost the entire afternoon session and rebuilt the innings that was tottering at 149 for six.

Kaif, who hit eight fours and a six in his 127-ball knock spanning 158 minutes, added 85 runs for the seventh wicket with Dinesh Mongia (27) to push India in to a safe zone.

Kaif was the last man out when he hit young Jamaican quickie Jermaine Lawson to long on. The youngster has done enough in the past few weeks to prove his adaptability in both forms of the game, the crowning moment being the innings in the NatWest final.

However, it remains only an outside chance for Kaif to play in the four-Test series, starting in Lord's on July 25.

For West Indies 'A', the effort of Lawson, who ran through the Indians' batting, claiming six wickets for 76 runs in the second innings was the high point.

For Indians, the form of V V S Laxman and Dinesh Mongia both scoring 80-plus in the first innings and the bowling of Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh, who took four wickets each in the West Indies' first innings were the positives to count from this fixture.

The visitors play one more match against Hampshire starting from Saturday before the start of the first Test against England.

Earlier, Indians, who began at their overnight score of 87 for 3 lost three more wickets by lunch, including that of stand-in skipper V V S Laxman (17).

Opener Wasim Jaffer (52) who resumed his innings on 43 was out quickly after reaching his half-century and the other not out batsman Parthiv Patel, showed promise but failed to score big as he returned to the pavilion after scoring 20.

Patel, wicketkeeper-batsman from Gujarat who first came into prominence as skipper of the U-19 side in last year's World Cup in New Zealand, looked elegant in his 36-ball knock.

Jaffer completed his fifty with a thunderous hook but over ambition proved to be his undoing. Lawson send both of them back, Patel to a catch by the keeper and Jaffer through a mistimed pull after making facing 126 balls with seven fours.

The afternoon session was dominated by Kaif who structured his innings in typical fashion, running hard and picking his ones and twos in the initial part of his innings and then flexing his shoulders to produce some outstanding strokes.

Kaif drove excellently on either side of the wicket and even once hit Ryan Hinds straight down the ground for a six to keep the West Indians at bay.

Yesterday's report
Indians end day 2 on 87 for 3 in second innings

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