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Untitled Document
 History repeats itself for Yuvraj and Kaif
31st Mar 2008 17:40 IST
Agencies
Almost six years ago in the English summer of 2002, two Young Turks had enabled India to pull off an amazing one-day victory to send then captain Sourav Ganguly into a shirt-waving frenzy at the Lords Balcony.
The heroes of that great triumph, one of the best-remembered victories in the 50-over game by India, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif have advanced in years but their Test career is at such a stage now that the duo is fighting for one coveted spot in the packed middle-order in second Test against South Africa beginning at Ahmedabad's dustbowl of Motera on April 3.
The Punjab-Uttar Pradesh pair's fabulous and backs-to-the-wall stand of 121 runs against England in the final of the Natwest Trophy on June 13 had helped India recover brilliantly from a hopeless position of 146 for five to chase down a mammoth 325 for five made by the hosts successful, a feat still fresh in the minds of the Indian cricket followers.
Ironically, the same two batsmen, who were members of the Indian under 19 World Cup winning squad previously in Sri Lanka when Yuvraj played under Kaif's captaincy, are now thrown into a contest of musical chairs to grab the lone spot left vacant by the forced absence through a groin injury of master batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
The same duo got the chance to fill in two middle order spots two seasons ago in the West Indies where Tendulkar was again absent due to injury along with Ganguly who had been dropped before making his well-chronicled spirited comeback. |
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