Mohammad Kaif recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. (Source: Express Archive) Mohammad Kaif recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. (Source: Express Archive)

Former India cricket Mohammad Kaif has slammed a report by a media outlet which carries analysis by a study which questions the number of SC/ST’s to have played for India since attainting Test status. In the report by The Wire, it says that since India started playing Test cricket, there have been only four capped players from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) out of the 290 players who have played for India where the number should have been 70 in accordance with the population. In reply to the tweet sharing the story, Kaif queried, “How many prime time journalists are SC or ST or for that matter how many senior editors in your organisation are SC or ST. Sports is perhaps one field which has successfully broken barriers of caste, players play with inclusiveness but then we have such journalism to spread hatred.”

The article also mentions how players coming from Dalit and Muslim communities have contributed as bowlers. “Three of the four Dalit Indian Test cricketers have been pace bowling all-rounders; five of the eight Muslims to have debuted for India in Tests in this millennium were pace bowlers; as many as 27 Muslims to have played in the IPL are also bowlers, while another 8 are all-rounders, as opposed to only 8 batsmen,” the study mentions.

The article also draws comparisons with South African cricket. They introduced a quota system where a minimum of six black cricketers must be included in South Africa’s national team to counter the under-representation of minority players across all levels of the game.

In the 86 years since India attained Test status, only 4 out of 290 players belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. https://t.co/bhf8dO7T6H — The Wire (@thewire_in) 26 July 2018

How many prime time journalists are SC or ST or for that matter how many senior editors in your organisation are SC or ST. Sports is perhaps one field which has successfully broken barriers of caste,players play with inclusiveness but then we have such journalism to spread hatred https://t.co/ludDNpPi3x — Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) 29 July 2018 https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/1x1.png

The study also highlights the drop in share of players from multiple cities to account for different backgrounds. “In 1970s-80s, about half of the Indian Test cricket team hailed from merely six cities: Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. However, the share of these six cities has steadily declined to less than 40% in recent years,” says the report.

Kaif recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in a video message posted on his official Twitter handle. “I played a role in India’s historic win in the Natwest trophy final 16 years back. This is the reason I am calling it a day on July 13. I want to thank one and all who have supported me in this journey,” Kaif said in the video message.

In another tweet that Kaif made, he wrote, “When I started playing Cricket,the dream was to play in the India Cap one day. Have been very fortunate to step on to the field & represent my country on 190 days of my life. Today is an apt day for me to announce my retirement from all competitive Cricket. Thank you everyone 🙏🏼.”

The right-handed batsman was an integral part of the Indian team that won the 2002 Natwest Trophy in England. He scored an unbeaten 87 in the final to help India chased down a target of 326 runs at Lord’s.

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