Kaif a victim of own forgetfulness

By Trevor Marshallsea
October 17, 2004
The Sun-Herald

Unsung Mohammad Kaif battled against cramp and dehydration in Chennai yesterday to frustrate Australia - to such an extent that it took his own unfortunate mistake to end his innings.

Having seen off past tormentors including Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman with minimal damage, the Australians would have liked their chances of removing Kaif early on Friday. They should have had him early, with Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist dropping him on nought and one, but the edgy start by the 23-year-old playing his first Test in three years still pointed to a brief innings.

Instead, Kaif went to stumps on 34 and made his way to 60 at lunch, before his demise came in an extraordinary fashion that had little to do with the Australian bowling.

Kaif, who had made just 141 runs in his first four Tests, did not reappear after lunch, the message emerging he had retired hurt due to thigh cramps. But after tailenders Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were dismissed, he returned as the last batsman with Yuvraj Singh as a runner.

Australia's stand-in captain Gilchrist held a discussion with umpires David Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen, who were already conferring on Kaif.

It was later revealed Gilchrist was questioning the legitimacy of the runner, quizzing the umpires on the nature of Kaif's injury.

The Australians might well have had suspicions about the extent of Kaif's injury, given that he had run off the field for the lunch break.

It became apparent later, however, that his condition was genuine.

After the umpires conferred Kaif was allowed to continue. He had no problem with his first ball, advancing to dispatch Warne over mid-off for four, but on his next ball he forgot he had a runner and brought himself undone.

Kaif reverse-swept Warne to third man and instinctively darted off, but only got some three metres out of his crease before collapsing with cramps. As he had left his crease he was fair game for the fielders, and Damien Martyn's return arrived in plenty of time for Gilchrist to run him out, despite Kaif's painful and pitiful attempts to get back to safety.

The innings finished, Kaif lay helplessly on the pitch but was eventually assisted off after several minutes. None of the Australians stayed to check on his welfare.

Indian management later announced Kaif had been taken to hospital to be treated for dehydration.

Still, the concept of a runner is a curious privilege which has come in for increasing criticism lately as being questionable in the best of times and open to abuse at others.

Cricket figures including Steve Waugh have argued that runners should be scrapped, as no other sport allows an able-bodied player into a game alongside an injured one.

Kaif got help, but still messed it up, much to Australia's relief.

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