DERBY (England), April 30:Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif has signed a four-month contract with Derbyshire to replace New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle, the English county said on Wednesday.

Kaif will fill the second overseas slot for the county.

Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who only signed a two-month contract with Derbyshire, will leave at the end of May and Kaif will probably play his first match on June 4.

Astle, who was contracted to play after Afridi left, ruled himself out after undergoing surgery on a patella tendon tear in his left knee and for a hernia earlier this month.

Kaif, 22, played for India in the recent World Cup in southern Africa and is well-known to English cricket fans, having combined with Yuvraj Singh in a 121-run sixth-wicket partnership to successfully chase England’s 325 in the final of a triangular one-day series in 2002.

Kaif scored an unbeaten 87 in the two-wicket victory.

“He is a top signing. A real quality batsman and wonderful fielder,” said coach Adrian Pearson in a statement.

“Kaif should provide great value and entertainment for Derbyshire. We are very lucky to have him.”

Meanwhile, India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has undergone hand surgery in the United States.

Indian cricket board secretary Karunakaran Nair said on Wednesday that “the operation in Baltimore was successful and that rehabilitation could take four to five months”.

Tendulkar has been suffering from a bone injury at the base of his left ring finger since the end of 2002.

Despite the problem, he scored 673 runs at an average of 61.18 to be named player of the World Cup earlier this year but then pulled out of a one-day tri-series in Dhaka earlier this month.

India’s next major engagement comes in October, when New Zealand are due to visit. India will then tour Australia at the end of the year.

Tendulkar has been troubled by a series of wear-and-tear injuries in the last few years. He stopped fielding in the slips after suffering back spasms in early 1999.—Reuters