IPL playerIndia2008 to 2012
Mohammad Kaif
On scorecards: M Kaif · Right-hand bat
Mohammad Kaif, a batter, played four IPL seasons for three franchises. One title came along the way.
The arrival
Mohammad Kaif arrived through the auction: Rajasthan Royals paid ₹2.70 cr (US$675k), against a base price of ₹50 lakh, at the very first IPL auction.
That first season brought 16 matches and 176 runs, and ended with Rajasthan Royals as champions. It would stay the best season of the career with the bat.
The peak
The high point with the bat was 2008, for Rajasthan Royals: 176 runs at an average of 16.0, striking at 102.9 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 129.1, and a highest score of 34 not out. Rajasthan Royals won the title that year.
Franchise by franchise
2008, Rajasthan Royals. Bought at the 2008 auction for ₹2.70 cr. 16 matches and 176 runs; champions in 2008.
2010, Kings XI Punjab. Bought at the 2010 auction for ₹1.15 cr. 4 matches and 28 runs.
2011 to 2012, Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bought at the 2011 auction for ₹59 lakh. 9 matches and 55 runs.
3 spells with three franchises in all. The longest was with Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2011 to 2012. 2009 is missing from the record: a season without an IPL appearance.
How the runs came
Across the career, Mohammad Kaif struck at 103.6. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 127.5, so Mohammad Kaif scored about 24 runs per hundred balls slower than the typical batter of the time. 48% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 22 fours and 6 sixes.
The fielding record: 16 catches and 1 run-out.
At the auction
Mohammad Kaif went under the hammer six times, bought three times and left unsold three times. The highest price was ₹2.70 cr (US$675k), paid by Rajasthan Royals in 2008, more than 5 times the base price. The market cooled over time: the last purchase, in 2011, cost ₹59 lakh.
Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.
The legacy
Mohammad Kaif made 29 IPL appearances, the last for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2012.
Season by season
| Season | Team | M | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 50/100 | Wkts | Econ | Best | Ct | POTM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Rajasthan Royals | 16 | 176 | 34* | 16.0 | 102.9 | 0/0 | – | – | – | 8 | Champions | |
| 2010 | Kings XI Punjab | 4 | 28 | 14 | 9.3 | 93.3 | 0/0 | – | – | – | 3 | ||
| 2011 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 8 | 41 | 15 | 13.7 | 124.2 | 0/0 | – | – | – | 5 | ||
| 2012 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 1 | 14 | 14 | 14.0 | 87.5 | 0/0 | – | – | – | 0 |
Franchise journey
- Rajasthan Royals: 2008
- Kings XI Punjab: 2010
- Royal Challengers Bangalore: 2011 to 2012
Ball-by-ball detail
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Dot balls faced | 44.4% |
| Balls per four | 11.4 |
| Balls per six | 41.7 |
| Catches | 16 |
| Run-outs | 1 |
| Stumpings | 0 |
At the auction
| Auction | Set | Base price | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Set G | ₹50 lakh | Sold to Rajasthan Royals for ₹2.70 cr (US$675k) |
| 2010 | – | ₹46 lakh | Sold to Kings XI Punjab for ₹1.15 cr (US$250k) |
| 2011 | – | ₹45 lakh | Sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for ₹59 lakh (US$130k) |
| 2014 | Batter | ₹20 lakh | Unsold |
| 2024 | UAL2 | ₹20 lakh | Unsold |
| 2024 | UFA2 | ₹20 lakh | Unsold |
Sources
- CricArcade IPL season statistics
- CricArcade IPL auction archive
- Kaggle IPL Complete Match Dataset 2008-2026, ball-by-ball, cross-checked against Cricsheet