Mohammad Kaif

Mohammad Kaif is an Indian middle-order batsman who has proved his mettle on the emerald turf. Born on December 1st, 1980, this 27-yr old Uttar Pradesh lad always showed an inclination towards cricket. It is very rare that all the males of a family are into cricket and Kaif’s family sure is gifted with such rarity. Right from Kaif’s father to his two elder brothers, all of them have showed their excellent cricketing capabilities in the Ranji Trophy at some point or other. But it was Mohammad Kaif who went a step ahead and proved to be one of the refined batsmen’s the Indian team possesses.

Mohammad Kaif captained the U-19 team that won the Youth World Cup in the year 2000. This was Kaif’s first attempt at International cricket and an immensely successful one for that matter. After the victory there was no looking back for this young bud that soon blossomed into a skilled batsman with his steely temperament and fine strokeplay. The NatWest series final that happened in 2002 turned to be the turning point of Kaif’s career. Here, he helped India successfully chase a score of 326. His contribution of an unbeaten 87 in just 75 balls earned him the Man of the Match award and India triumphed over England. A magnificent century ensued in the ICC Champions Trophy against Zimbabwe. But Kaif still had a few more kinks to iron out as he hadn’t been successful in grabbing a permanent position in the team for test matches.

His gritty fielding and agile batting has now managed to earn him an Indian cap and he is amongst the experienced and indispensable players of India. Mohammad Kaif was one of the most expensive players to be hired to play in the Indian Premier League. He batted for Rajasthan Royals team in the IPL. Though he didn’t get a fair chance to fully show his skills, he batted 12 runs (including 1 six) in 9 balls with a strike rate of 133.33 before he was caught out by M S Dhoni.