Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Mohammad Kaif
Born December 1, 1980, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
Current age 27 years 168 days
Major teams India, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, India Red, Leicestershire, Rajasthan Cricket Association President's XI, Rajasthan Royals, Uttar Pradesh
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Relations Father - M Tarif, Brother - M Saif

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	13	22	3	624	148*	32.84	1548	40.31	1	3	64	2	14
ODIs	125	110	24	2753	111*	32.01	3822	72.03	2	17	228	9	55
First-class	99	158	18	5757	160	41.12			10	35			87
List A	223	205	36	6371	151*	37.69			6	47			101
Twenty20	19	17	4	269	59*	20.69	260	103.46	0	2	26	7	6

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	13	1	18	4	0	-	-	-	1.33	-	0	0	0
ODIs	125	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
First-class	99		1358	639	20	3/4		31.95	2.82	67.9		0	0
List A	223		1035	907	30	4/23	4/23	30.23	5.25	34.5	2	0	0
Twenty20	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Career statistics
Test debut	India v South Africa at Bangalore, Mar 2-6, 2000 scorecard
Last Test	West Indies v India at Kingston, Jun 30-Jul 2, 2006 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	India v England at Kanpur, Jan 28, 2002 scorecard
Last ODI	South Africa v India at Port Elizabeth, Nov 29, 2006 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class debut	1997/98
Last First-class	Central Zone v England Lions at Vadodara, Feb 3-6, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1998/99
Last List A	Central Zone v South Zone at Hyderabad (Decc), Mar 20, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Yorkshire v Derbyshire at Leeds, Jun 14, 2003 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Rajasthan Royals v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Jaipur, May 17, 2008 scorecard

Profile

Mohammad Kaif, who comes from the cricketing backwater of Uttar Pradesh, first came to prominence with his performances for India's Under-19s: he captained the side, which also included Yuvraj Singh, Ajay Ratra and Reetinder Sodhi, that won the Youth World Cup of 2000. Kaif's assured strokeplay, and composure that belied his age, earned him a Test cap against South Africa when he was only 20. Though the selectors subsequently discarded him, stints at the Australian Cricket Academy and its Indian equivalent in Bangalore helped to iron out some of the kinks in his technique. Recalled to the one-day side during the 2001-2002 home season, he made an impact with some steady and purposeful batting. But it was during the 2002 NatWest series in England that he truly hit the high notes, culminating in a magnificent unbeaten 87 as India successfully chased 326 for victory in the final. A superb century followed - against Zimbabwe in the ICC Champions Trophy - but he struggled at times to kick on after that, having a fairly quiet World Cup. His first experience of the county circuit was also a mixed bag, some typically dynamic efforts interspersed by a string of low scores. Kaif's exceptional fielding at cover often overshadowed his poor scores with the bat - including a horror run in 2005-06 - but even that hasn't been enough to win him a permanent place in the Test side. He was dropped for more than a year before being recalled to the Test squad for the second Test against South Africa in Ahmedabad - backed by an impressive domestic season - as a replacement for the injured Sachin Tendulkar. He was also the most expensive player in the Rajasthan Royals IPL team.
Dileep Premachandran March 2008

Apr 10, 2008

Mohammad Kaif has a chat with Sourav Ganguly
© AFP

Apr 2, 2008

Sreesanth, Mohammad Kaif, and Wasim Jaffer chat after India's practice session
© AFP

Apr 1, 2008

Mohammad Kaif at a training session in Ahmedabad
© AFP

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