Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif is celebrating his 44th birthday on December 1, 2024. The right-hander turned out to be a crucial middle-order batter for India in his short international career from 2000 to 2006. He came into the limelight after leading the junior Indian team to the Under-19 World Cup title in January 2000. After a couple of months, he made his Test debut for the Indian cricket team.
Mohammad Kaif has played many crucial knocks for India in the ODI format while batting in the middle-order. He has played 13 Tests and 125 ODIs in his career, scoring 3377 runs in both formats combined. He is also known for his iconic knock of 87* runs in the NatWest final against England at Lord's in 2002. He provided strength to the Indian middle-order, and helped India to post a big total in the early 2000s.
Mohammad Kaif's Career
Mohammad Kaif made his debut for the Indian cricket team in a Test match against South Africa in Bengaluru on January 2, 2000. He didn’t have a long Test career where he played 13 matches, amassing 624 runs with one hundred and three fifties. He made his ODI debut for India in a match against England in Kanpur on January 28, 2002. He has scored 2753 runs in 125 ODI matches at an average of 32.01 with two hundreds and 17 fifties.
After retiring from international cricket in 2006, Mohammad Kaif was seen playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, and also won the title with the franchise that year. He has also played for other franchises like Kings XI Punjab (now known as Punjab Kings) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in his IPL career from 2008 to 2012. Post his cricketing career, Kaif was seen as an assistant coach for Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017, and has also played on the Legends League Cricket.
