Mohammad Kaif jokingly claims MS Dhoni did not pick him over not getting chicken biryani

Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif is widely renowned as one of India's greatest fielders of all-time. Mohammad Kaif came into the limelight when he led the India U-19 team to a World Cup victory in 2000. The right-handed batsman made his India debut soon after that. He became a regular feature in the national team in the early 2000s.

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Mohammad Kaif blames MS Dhoni for failing to make comeback into the Indian team

Mohammad Kaif soon established himself an indispensable part of the side due to his ability to bat in the middle and lower order. Additionally, he was an exceptional fielder who plucked balls out of nowhere and made the art of catching look easy on the eye. However, after showing initial promise, Mohammad Kaif's career couldn't really take off as he was ousted from the Indian team in 2006 due to poor form and couldn't make a comeback.

Recently, Mohammad Kaif revealed that when he scored a century in the 2006 Ranji Trophy final and led Uttar Pradesh to triumph, he felt that he had a chance of making a comeback into the Indian team. However, the 39-year-old jokingly added that not feeding MS Dhoni properly at his house might have hindered his chances of a comeback in the national team.

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In a recent YouTube interview on Sportscreen, Mohammad Kaif narrated the whole incident when he had invited the whole Indian team to his Noida home in 2006 for a feast. He added that while he was nervous and busy attending to big personalities like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, the likes of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan among others were left sidelined in another room. Mohammad Kaif also said that he probably didn't look after MS Dhoni and other junior cricketers properly.

Mohammad Kaif also revealed how MS Dhoni has often told him jokingly that he had come to his home and he did not let him have a lot of chicken biryani, which is considered to be one of the World Cup winning captain's favourite dishes. Mohammad Kaif further said that he has apologized to him on several occasions.

MS Dhoni is still India's number one wicket-keeper: Mohammad Kaif

Now, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has joined the bandwagon over India's No.1 wicketkeeper. Kaif, who has been full of praise of his ex-teammate MS Dhoni, maintained in an interview with The Times of India, that India cannot afford to look past the CSK captain at the moment. Although KL Rahul has been perfect in his makeshift role so far, Kaif feels that he isn't a long-term option for India going ahead.

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Mohammad Kaif cited examples of legendary cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid by saying that the Indian team had replacements like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara for them, who have filled that void but the same hasn't been the case with MS Dhoni. The likes of Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant have struggled, which makes KL Rahul India's ideal 'backup wicketkeeper' in Kaif's opinion.

Mohammad Kaif's views echo those of the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Rohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra in recent times. While many believe that India have moved on from MS Dhoni, cricket pundits and ardent MS Dhoni supporters believe that the former India captain has a lot of cricket left in him.

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IMAGE COURTESY: ICC TWITTER