India is going to make a change in the team for the second Test against Australia, beginning in Chennai on Thursday.
"Mohammad Kaif will get a chance to prove his skills on the field," said India skipper Sourav Ganguly.
Kaif last played a Test match in 2001. It was the third Test of the series against Sri Lanka and the right-hander scored 14 in the first innings and five in the second.
In the recent NatWest Challenge and Champions Trophy in England, he did well with the bat and certainly deserves another go in Test cricket.
His inclusion also means that either Yuvraj Singh or opener Aakash Chopra will get the axe.
In the past, Ganguly has publicly stated his preference for an in-form Yuvraj over Chopra. On Wednesday, he did give an indication that his thinking has not changed.
"There is a possibility that we may go with Yuvraj as opener," he said.
The confidence of the Indian team has been severely jolted by the loss of the first Test, but there was one bright point and that was the success of Harbhajan Singh.
"We may even go into the match with three spinners but it all depends on what the pitch looks like in the morning," said Ganguly.
Coach John Wright had ruled out the possibility of playing three spinners along with Irfan Pathan on Tuesday.
Ganguly had said exactly the same on the eve of the first Test in Bangalore as well, but in the end India played two seamers in Pathan and Zaheer Khan, the latter turning out insipid performance.
Khan's match figures of 1 for 105 have its own story to tell.
In fact, it would be worth trying out Ajit Agarkar. The Mumbai medium-pacer has a better record against Australia than any other Test nation, with 29 wickets from eight Tests and a career-best 6 for 41 in India's victory at the Adelaide Oval last summer.
But Ganguly put an end to speculation about the second seamer's slot, saying, "If two pacers play, then Zaheer would play."
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