Former Indian team member and captain of the Uttar Pradesh Ranji team, cricketer Mohammad Kaif announced his retirement from active cricket in July this year, leaving his fans shocked. Although he does agree that he could have played more for India, the Allahabad-born cricketer, who led India to victory over England in the NatWest Trophy final, 16 years ago, says that he has no regrets and feels fortunate to have been part of the Indian cricket team. We caught up with the player, who was called the best fielder in the team, to ask him about his plans post retirement and his controversial tweet about corruption in the UPCA – Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association . “Retirement was planned since very long because the last I played for India was in 2006. After that I did try to make a comeback but somehow that didn’t happen,” says Kaif. “Then I started playing domestic cricket and I’ve always captained the UP team. You play the game because you love it so much and even though I wasn’t playing for India, I was playing for my state and I was happy just being connected with cricket,” he adds.Even though Kaif was not in the Indian team, he did not leave the game. He continued to mentor younger players. “2010-12 ke baad mujhe laga ki ab toh shayad comeback (in the Indian team) ke chances thoda kam hain. So I thought there are lots of new players in the team and I should start mentoring them. I always did that for UP when I was the captain. Suresh Raina played under me, RP Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar , Piyush Chawla and Pravin Kumar, all these people, who are part of the Indian cricket team, have played under me. Then by 2011 our UP team was set and we were qualifying for the knockouts and reaching the semi-finals and finals of domestic cricket, so then I went out of UP to groom other budding players. So it’s not as if one fine day I suddenly decided to retire. It was playing on my mind since long,” says Kaif who’s played in 13 Tests and 125 ODIs and has had an enviable haul of 10229 runs in 186 First Class matches.Mohammad Kaif (BCCL)Now that Kaif has retired, he says he is spending time with his family, which he feels he missed out on while in active cricket. Father to a son who’s six and a daughter who’s one and a half years old, Kaif is these days spending as much time as possible with them. “As of now, I do commentary, I also give motivational talks. I work with a lot of corporates and train the youth. There’s lots that’s planned. Dheere-dheere sab materialise hoga. I have given 20 years to cricket, so whatever I have learnt in this game and from this game, woh hum baatna chahenge. That I feel is my responsibility. Cricket is followed like a religion in India and there are so many aspiring players, I would like to now share my experience with them. I like the word ‘cricket counselling’, mentoring or coaching, woh ab mujhe karna hai, anything that I can do for the development of this game and players of India, I will do.”In his 20-year career in cricket, Kaif has always brought laurels to his home state and he says he owes all of it to UP. “UP se alag sa lagaav hai. UP ne kitna kuchh diya hai hamein. My father has also played for UP. So I want to thank Allahabad for whatever I am. Allahabad se nikal ke main Kanpur ke ek hostel mein raha, and finally Lucknow se aage badk ke India ke liye khela. Ek Allahabad ke player ka wahan se nikalna aur ke Lords ke maidan mein tiranga lehrana, World Cup jeetne ke baad, uss se badh ke aur kya ho sakta hai ek player ke liye. Logon ka sapna, sapna reh jaata hai, mera sapna poora hua. Sab cricket ki badaulat, apne state, aur desh ki badaulat. Agar inka saath nahi hota toh aaj main kahin nahi hota,” he says a tad emotionally.Recently, Kaif had courted controversy over his cryptic tweet about corruption in the UPCA. Explaining why he posted that tweet, he says, “Dhuaan tabhi nikalta hai jab aag hoti hai. So aisi hi ek jagah baat chal rahi thi about UP cricket. And since I have been the captain of the UP cricket team, I was disappointed to hear what people had to say about the condition of the team and the players these days. Under me, UP has done very well in domestic cricket. So many players from UP have gone into the national team. So I just feel ki players ke saath injustice na ho. That’s the only thing I had in mind when I wrote that tweet. All these young players who come from such small towns, leaving their homes with such big dreams. Their only dream is to work hard and play for India. They spend hours on the field sweating it out, hungry and thirsty. I know because I have done all of that, so when I hear of injustice being done to them, I don’t like it. Bas yahi wajah thi uss tweet ki.”Talking about what’s plaguing UPCA, Kaif says, “Insecurity I guess. In the players. Ki basically when they will get to play a match, even if they are inducted in the team. Then maybe they feel they may be left out of the team any time, whether they will play the next match or not, is what is going through the players’ minds instead of them focusing on the game and improving upon it. Then there’s no system in place in UPCA. That insecurity, when it gets into a player’s mind, then his game is compromised.”Mohammad Kaif (BCCL)Offering advice on how this can be rectified, Kaif says, “See, there’s no dearth of talent in UP. Yahan UP mein jitney talented players hain, kahin aur nahi hain. Ladke chhote shehar se aate hain, bahut hard working hain, Raina sabse bade example hain, Chawla is still playing IPL, Kuldeep Yadav ko dekhiye. So all they need is encouragement and proper guidance and a fair chance to play. Just call them once in a few days, ask them about their welfare, how their game is shaping up, give a day off to one who’s not feeling well, that’s all a youngster needs. And those are the qualities of a leader which we are missing out on. Coach thoda samjhen bachchon ko aur connect karein unki feelings ke saath, unke saath unki behtari ke liye kaam karein.”He goes on to add, “Dekhiye hum uss daur se aage badh ke aayein hain jab we had no facilities. We had no kits, trainer, or physiotherapists. Thankfully we had seniors who guided me and my parents were there. So our responsibility is now to work as guardians and not play with the dreams of the young players. And it’s not as if these problems haven’t been solved earlier. UP Cricket has seen some wonderful times. In 2005-06 we defeated Mumbai in the championships. Then people realized that UP team is so strong and so the selectors took notice of us. So many of our boys then played for our country, Raina, RP Singh, Chawla, Buvnesh, all these were in the Indian team. So when you do something extraordinary like defeating Mumbai team on their home ground, people will obviously take notice. Warna log UP walon ko sirf bhaiyya-bhaiyya keh ke taal dete thay. Ki bhaiyya kahan cricket khel payenge. So that tag that we UP wallahas had been given, that we haven’t been able to rise above paan masala – which I was often told and which would make me very upset – was very important to get rid of. So when I became the captain, I took it upon myself to change this image of UP wallahs in front of the world and I did it to quite an extent. Now, when there are problems, there’s no point in dwelling over them. Now, it’s time to find solutions to the problems. We should be asking ourselves questions like why our team is losing. Why we’re not getting national, international level players from UP? We have to provide answers to that so that maybe the people sitting at the top will take notice of it and think ki haan pehle yeh team itni achhi rahi hai, toh abhi kyun nahi? UP cricket has seen wonderful days, those days when we team members didn’t have trainers, physiotherapists, or even analyst for that matter. We didn’t even have sponsors for our clothes. And yet we used to win because we only used to focus of the game and the solutions. Our only discussions during meetings used to be ki yaar hamare paas achha kya hai jo aur state mein nahi hai aur usey kaise best use karein. We never got into the politics of things.”Wanting to bring a change, Kaif shares, “Hamara kaam bolna hai, aur, as a player, I was looking for a solution. I want to talk about how we can improve and how to get back those glorious days. Leader ko chahiye ki ek achha example set kare team players ke saamne. That could be the boss of UPCA, the captain or the selector. Aap leader ki tarah baat karein. Leader woh hota hai jo player ke liye care kare. If you care for the player and look after them, they will give their all to you. I felt very disappointed when Sarfaraz Khan left UP and went to Mumbai. I felt bad because we had created such an atmosphere that people from Mumbai were coming to UP to play and now it’s the other way round. Sarfaraz Khan is from UP but he’s playing for Mumbai. Unko laga ki yahan koi system nahi hai aur hamara saara talent yahan chhup jayega. So woh banda, jo IPL ka badhshah tha, hero tha, under-19 World Cup mein jisne sabse zyada run banaye India ke liye, woh banda jab UP aata hai toh hamein toh dono haath se unki care karni chahiye thi na? He must have felt that the UP team is doing so well, so many from the team are playing for India, woh itne saare sapne le ke yahan aaya ki main bhi yahan se India ke liye khelunga but woh NOC maang ke ek saal ke andar hi wapas chale gaye. This way you’re not setting a good example. You’re not sending a right kind of message to other players ki ‘bhai hum ache se care nahi kar paate apne players ki’. RP Singh, bhaag gaye, Chawla chale gaye, why? We need to ask ourselves this serious question.”— Itishree.Misra@timesgroup.com

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