Mohammad Kaif has become the latest cricketer to join the bandwagon of players foraying into politics. Kaif now has a ticket from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, from where he will be contesting for an electoral seat in the Lok Sabha from the Congress party.
Kaif has been in good form, but has been sidelined from international cricket for a long time now. Although his performances have been good in the domestic circuit, his career prospects aren’t looking bright. The sudden surge of young talent isn’t helping his cause either. As Team India sees an outburst of young talent flooding into the pool of bench strength, Kaif’s turn doesn’t look around the corner either.
Although he claims that he will continue playing cricket and that it’s not the end of the road for his career in the sport, yet contesting for elections and looking at becoming a full time politician isn’t going to leave him with much time for competitive cricket. And once he stops playing in the domestic circuit, it is as good as bidding an unceremonious good bye to the game.
Maybe this was what played on his mind when he took the decision. With an international career not looking like a possibility anytime soon, Kaif probably made the wiser decision to change track. After all, no one’s getting younger. And like they say, out of sight is out of mind. With the selectors  not even being in a position to consider Kaif in the squads, what point does it make for him to continue when he can rather look at a full-fledged political career that has the ‘age, no bar, caste no bar’ tag screaming aloud.
It’s almost certain that we might not see Kaif donning the Indian colours again. Even though his career fizzled out in an untimely manner, he will be remembered as one of the cricketers who changed the way the Indian team fielded. His agility was infectious, and soon the entire team was trying to match his standards. But with time, the rest of them caught up and moved so fast ahead, that he got left behind.
As he himself says, his ‘second innings’ could prove to be very fruitful, considering his popularity as a cricketer could have the voters making a beeline for him.
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