“Main Darr Gaya”: Just 11 Months After His Test Debut, Mohammad Kaif Was Scared Out Of His Wits By Steve Waugh

It requires serious guts to have a go at a legendary 438-international match veteran when you yourself have played all of one Test match. Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif had managed to unsettle former Australian captain Steve Waugh in the garb of “cheering the bowler up” over 23 years ago.

It all had happened during the first warm-up match of Australia’s tour of India 2001 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. Not part of India A’s Playing XI led by VVS Laxman, Kaif was on the field as a substitute fielder. A youngster filled with nervous energy had managed to do the daring act, but he had to deal with a consequence right away.

Just 11 Months After His Test Debut, Mohammad Kaif Was Scared Out Of His Wits By Steve Waugh

Kaif, who had skippered India to their maiden Under-19 World Cup title in January 2000, had registered scores of 90 and 93 across two innings for India B during the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy played in Ahmedabad next month.

Resultantly, at the age of 20, he had received a maiden call-up to the Indian Test team for a two-match Test series against South Africa a few days later. The right-handed batter was handed a debut in the second Test in Bengaluru next month, but could register scores of 12 and 23 against a strong Proteas bowling line-up.

Having not played another international match for the next 17 months, Kaif had made it to the India A squad for the aforementioned contest in Nagpur. During the Australian innings, he tried to fraught with danger while stationed at forward short leg position.

“Steve Waugh had arrived to bat and I was stationed at short leg. The ball was turning into him and he was finding it a tad bit difficult to play. So, I started remarking, ‘Common, common, get him out. Send him back’. He initially didn’t react for a couple of overs. But, I kept on repeating those words and had decided not to stay quiet.

“Afterwards, he stopped Bhajji [Harbhajan Singh] in his delivery stride and began staring at me with a shake of head. I got so scared, man! I was literally scared. He had those small eyes and the way he stared at me with that sideways look! Had I played that match he would have instructed his bowlers to bowl only bouncers at me!”, Kaif had remarked during an interaction with Youtuber Vikram Sathaye around five years ago.

 

Although not in a manner Kaif had tried, but India managed to dismiss Waugh cheaply during both the innings at the scores of 0 and 17 respectively.

Story Behind Mohammad Kaif’s Sledging Remark

Earlier during the interaction, Kaif had revealed how he had learnt the sledge remark, “Get him out, get him out. Send him back”, which he would use quite often while fielding in the vicinity of the batters.

It was during the days he used to play Under-16 age group matches in Tamil Nadu, when the wicket-keeper and the rest of the fielders would try to get into the batters’ head using a similar set of words! The 42-year-old revealed that somehow he was convinced that this particular remark does help in unsettling the batter.