For UP skipper Mohammad Kaif, the Karnail Singh Stadium has always been an away venue. But for his father Mohammad Tarif, a former Railways player, the stadium is home. Tarif had always enjoyed a homely reception at the ground since his playing days, and scoreboard operator Diwan Singh, who has spent three decades at this ground, has many fond remembrances of the first-down batsman who served the hosts for eighteen long years (1964-65 to 1982-83).

“As far as I remember, he used to bat at number three, and he played for more than fifteen years,” says Singh, trying to clarify the confusion of his older friends, who insist Tarif was a middle-order batsman. Kaif’s family connection with the stadium runs deeper as brother Mohammad Saif speaks of his experience at the ground.

Saif, who has retired from first-class cricket and is now a regular batsman for ONGC, was too young to remember anything from his father’s playing days (he was seven-years old when Tarif played his last first-class match). “I don’t remember much from those days. I don’t remember whether I came here along with my father, because we had been staying in Allahabad,” says Saif.

But what connects him to the venue is his debut — against Railways for Madhya Pradesh in 1994 — which justified his initial reputation as a bowler. “I got two wickets and scored 45 runs in that match. My highest score here is 75 against Railways,” Saif says. From tents to concrete, green to patchy, Saif’s memories follow a mosaic pattern.

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