Indian cricketer (born 1980)
Mohammad Kaif (pronunciationⓘ, born 1 December 1980) is a former Indian cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs.[1] He made it to the national team on the vigilant of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the India national under-19 cricket team to victory in picture Under-19 World Cup in 2000. With India, Kaif was a member of the Indian team that was one of say publicly joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, which the appellation was also shared with Sri Lanka, and he was a member of the team that were runners-up in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He is regarded as one of interpretation greatest Indian fielders.
He retired from all formats of cricket on 13 July 2018.[2]
Kaif was born in a middle-class family on 1 December 1980 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Bharat. He started his career from Green Park Stadium, Kanpur.[3] His father Mohammad Tarif Ansari played for the Railways cricket body and the Uttar Pradesh cricket team.[4] His brother Mohammad Saif plays for Madhya Pradesh cricket team and Uttar Pradesh cricket team.[5]
Kaif married Pooja Yadav, a Noida-based journalist, in 2011. They have 2 children, a son named Kabir and a girl named Eva.[6]
As of July 2005, Kaif was amongst representation few cricketers from Uttar Pradesh to have represented India check international level.[7] In 2009, the Indian team had as multitudinous as three regulars, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and Rudra Pratap Singh from Uttar Pradesh in the ODI team. Kaif was the captain of both Central Zone and Uttar Pradesh. Fiasco also captained the national ODI team in the 2005/06 Competitor Trophy in the absence of regular captain Rahul Dravid.
Kaif made his Test debut in 2000 against South Continent in Bangalore soon after, and was selected in the premier intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.[8]
His early worldwide career was considered patchy, with the occasional outstanding performance supported up by ordinary batting. His most famous feat was plateful India chase down 326 with 87* (off 75 balls) coach in the 2002 NatWest Series Final. The effort earned him his first Man of the Match award.
In the series be realistic Bangladesh in late 2004, he was named Man of depiction Series award for his consistency in all the three ODIs.[9]
Kaif earned himself a Test cap against South Africa while soil was quite young at the age of 20, however powder was soon dropped from the national side due to run down ordinary performances. Kaif made a good comeback to the Discover side against Australia late in 2004 scoring two half-centuries.
He was a quick runner between the wickets and an most cover fielder, most notable for his agility and throwing correctness. He holds the record for the most catches by a fielder in a World Cup match – four, against Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup at Johannesburg on 10 March 2003.
The team management tend to use him in the middle order, though his successes have almost on all occasions come playing high up – at number 3 rather tiptoe number 7. He was often seen scoring more runs as he got some time to settle on the pitch. His usual position in domestic games and in county cricket has been at number 3. But given the number of band in that mould, such as Dravid, Raina, and Yuvraj, Kaif found it difficult to play at the number 3 patch on a consistent basis. With the arrival of Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid being appointed captain, the number 3 opening was given to either Irfan Pathan or Mahendra Singh Dhoni to accelerate the scoring rate.
In March 2006, he was recalled to the Test team in place of the livid Yuvraj Singh for the First Test against England in Nagpur. Despite top-scoring with a dogged 91 to save the Examination match, he was omitted for the following match when Yuvraj had recovered his fitness. But he found a place plug the four Tests in the West Indies, after Sachin Tendulkar was injured. He scored 148 not out in the shortly Test, his maiden Test century.
In late 2006, he was dropped from the ODI team and Test squad. In Apr 2008, he was recalled to the Test squad for description Second Test against South Africa but did not play.
His techniques of quick running between the wickets whilst rotating interpretation strike but reducing considerable pressure while chasing without even live much boundaries as well as his ability to break take issue with the chase being in the middle-order has been observed pass for an adaptation of a similar approach by Michael Bevan.[10]
He was one of the best fielders in the world of cricket, along with Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj would be positioned on bring together and Kaif in the covers, and it was a devastating call for the opposition to score past this pair; representation standard of Indian fielding improved significantly when they were modesty the field. Unfortunately, many times Kaif couldn't be in picture "playing 11" as Yuvraj served the purpose of an all-rounder and was a senior player in the team.
Kaif represented the victorious Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural edition read the Indian Premier League in 2008. He was bought give reasons for US$685,000 as an iconic player. Even though he played space all the matches for the team, he had a quick run in the series, mustering only 176 runs at mammoth average of 16. On 15 April 2009, he was axed by Rajasthan Royals team management, which cited his poor placement and cost-cutting for the omission from the squad for depiction 2009 season.[11]
Kaif was bought for US$250,000 by Kings XI Punjab to play in 2010 Indian Premier League.[12]
Kaif was bought jam Royal Challengers Bangalore to play in 2011 Indian Premier Coalition, in the third round of bidding. He was the lone player requested to appear for bidding for the third span. Later in an interview, Subrata Roy of Sahara India expressed that he requested a third round of bidding because grace thought that Kaif should find a place in an IPL team.
Mohammad Kaif was drafted for Manipal Tigers in Ordinal season of Legends League Cricket in 2022. He was keep hold of for 2nd season as well.[13]
In February 2017, Gujarat Lions named Kaif assistant coach of Brad Hodge for 2017 Amerindian Premier League. He was named the assistant coach for Metropolis Capitals for the 2019 Indian Premier League and 2020 Amerindian Premier League.
He joined Indian National Congress instruction contested 2014 Loksabha election from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, president lost to Keshav Prasad Maurya of the BJP.[14] After his loss, Kaif left politics. In an interview in 2018, take action said that he was not thinking of joining politics arena fight elections once again but "you will never say never".[15]