Know Mohammad Kaif from a cricketer to a politician

New Delhi: Mohammad Kaif, one of the best fielders that Indian cricket has seen so far, now has changed gear and now will be seen fielding as politician representing congress in the up coming Lok Sabha elections. Fielded from Phulpur as the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, cricketer Mohammed Kaif on Saturday said politics is like a second innings for him and he would give equal attention to both his game and politics.Lets know more about him.Mohammad Kaif made it to the national team on the strength of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the Indian team to victory in the Under-19 World Cup in 2000. He can be both defensive and aggressive, as variable strike rates in Test and ODI cricket suggest. He was the one of the best Indian fielders at the covers.Mohammad Kaif was born on 1 December 1980 in Allahabad He Started his Career from Green Park Hostel . His father Mohammad Tarif has played for Railways & Uttar Pradesh. His brother Mohammad Saif plays for Madhya Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh. Kaif married Pooja Kaif, a Noida based journalist, on 25 March 2011.Kaif made his Test debut in 2000 against South Africa in Bangalore.Kaif made his Test debut in 2000 against South Africa in Bangalore soon after, and was selected in the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.His early international career was considered patchy, with the occasional outstanding performance backed up by ordinary batting. His most famous feat was helping India chase down 326 with 87* (off 75 balls) in the 2002 NatWest Series Final. The effort earned him his first Man of the Match award. In the series against Bangladesh in late 2004, he was named Man of the Series for his consistency in all the three ODIs. Kaif earned himself a Test cap against South Africa when he was 20. Although dropped after some ordinary performances, he made a good comeback to the Test side against Australia late in 2004 scoring two half-centuries.He also has the world record of five catches in a World Cup match.The team management tend to use him in the middle order, though his successes have almost always come playing high up – at number 3 rather than at number 7. He tends to score big when given the time to settle. His usual position in domestic games and in county cricket has been number 3. But given the number of players in that mould, such as Dravid, Raina and Yuvraj, Kaif found it difficult to play at the number 3 spot on a consistent basis. In March 2006, he was recalled to the Test team in place of the injured Yuvraj Singh for the First Test against England in Nagpur. Despite top-scoring with a dogged 91 to save the Test match, he was omitted for the following match when Yuvraj had recovered his fitness. But he found a place in the four Tests in the West Indies, after Sachin Tendulkar was injured. He hit 148 not out in the second Test, his maiden Test century.As of July 2005, Kaif was one of only five cricketers from Uttar Pradesh to have made it to the national side. He is the current captain of both Central Zone and Uttar Pradesh. He also captained the national ODI team in the 2005–06 Challenger Trophy in the absence of regular captain Rahul Dravid.In late 2006, he was dropped from the ODI team and Test squad in favour of Dinesh Karthik. In April 2008, he was recalled to the Test squad for the Second Test against South Africa, but did not play.