A complete team effort: Chandrakant Pandit

MUMBAI, August 24: India’s A squad, led by Mohammad Kaif, completed their African sojourn - a twin tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya - on a winning note by clinching a tri-series in Nairobi that also featured Sri Lanka A, besides the hosts. The One-day tri-series triumph came on the back of four straight wins in the first-class matches over Zimbabwe (four-day) and Kenya (three-day).It all may not count for much.
But India 'A' coach Chandrakant Pandit doesn’t subscribe to this line of thinking. Talking to TOI from Nairobi, the former India stumper spared no words. "We were playing Zimbabwe’s national team. In the one-day competition, Sri Lanka A was one of the best teams we played against. Basically, we played some outstanding cricket, and the boys must be given due credit for that," said Pandit.
He, however, shied from giving credit to individual efforts, instead preferring to say it was a "team effort". On the importance of the tour, Pandit felt that "such tours help the youngsters immensely, for they get to play against a foreign side."
Irfan Pathan
FC: 4M, 87 runs, 14 wickets
ODs: 4M, 93 runs, 6 wickets
He is coming back into the groove. Irfan is a very good team man. Bowled a yard quicker than in recent times
Parthiv Patel
First class: 4M, 481 runs, 3 tons, 7 victims ODs: 5M, 26 runs, 13 victims
Played well in the four-day games. Glovework was good, was very positive as an opener
Pankaj Singh
FC: 3M, 9 wickets
ODs: 5M, 10 wickets
Bowled in the right areas consistently, but didn’t adjust to the ODs instantly, but that happens with fast bowlers
S Badrinath
FC: 4M, 458 runs, 3 centuries
ODs: 5M, 41Runs
Took some time to get going, but once he got used to the conditions, he did well
Cheteshwar Pujara
FC: 3M, 117 runs, 1 century
ODs: 4M, 148 runs
Showed patience at the crease. He adapted well to our changed batting order in one-dayers
Mohd Kaif
FC: 4M, 118 runs
ODs: 5M, 149 runs
Played particularly well in the series, especially in the final. As a captain he was very helpful to his teammates. You can judge his captaincy by the fact that we lost just one game on the tour
Yo Mahesh
FC: 4M, 9 wickets
ODs: 5M, 8 wickets
Stuck to our plans and bowled a good line. Though he didn’t bat a lot on this tour, I feel he can be an all-rounder.
Praveen Kumar
ODs: 5M, 165 Runs, 9 wickets
A great utility player, who is also an useful bowler. He can be an aggressive batsman. Helped us take advantage of power plays
Pragyan Ojha
FC: 3M, 16 wickets
ODs: 5M, 11 wickets
Has the ability to take wickets. He maintains a steady line and has a good arm ball.