Dubai: Mohammad Kaif may have been preparing to share the nets with South African skipper Graeme Smith for Jaipur team in the Indian Premier League, but for now, he will have to settle for a rival camp.
Sachin Tendulkar's groin injury has suddenly paved the way for the UP middle order batsman back into the national squad for the second Test at Ahmedabad, beginning on Thursday.
"I had been performing well at the domestic level, scoring more than 1,200 runs in the current season. Hence, the call-up is not exactly a surprise," Kaif told Gulf News on phone from India. The 27-year-old had played his last Test match against the West Indies in Jamaica in June, 2006.
A call-up to the elite 14 does not necessarily guarantee the cricketer a place in the playing XI, for it will be a toss-up between him and old friend Yuvraj Singh for the vacant slot in the star-studded middle order.
With the Motera wicket in Ahmedabad known to be yet another featherbed, Kaif's wait for a successful return to international cricket may have to wait if the Indian team think tank decides to play an extra bowler.
Being considered a key part of India's gameplan during the Greg Chappell era, the hurt in Kaif's voice is apparent at having missed out on the recent high points of India's recent success in the limited overs game.
"The problem in India is, nobody tells you where you have gone wrong once you are dropped. I had, meanwhile, led the India A team to Zimbabwe where we won all the matches.
Experience
"The team, of which several guys had the experience of playing for the senior team, gelled under the coaching of Chandrakant Pandit and I also had a good run against South Africa A. In a way, I had kept myself ready for any recall," said Kaif.
Looking ahead at the IPL, where he is the highest paid cricketer for his team at $675,000 (Dh2.5 million) per year, Kaif is excited about playing under the captaincy of Shane Warne. "He has been a thinking captain and had done extremely well for Hampshire. If he had not led Australia, it's not for cricketing reasons," he said.
It's common knowledge some young Indian cricketers like Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma commanded a much higher price than some of the contemporary greats of the game in the IPL.
Asked if such prohibitive sums of money can have a distracting influence on teenagers, Kaif said: "It's good there is such big money in the game, but the youngsters should realise cricket comes first. This is where their parents have an important role to play."