Natwest Trophy final hero Kaif retires

For the cricket romantics, July 13, 2002, is hard to forget. After all, it was on this day — sixteen summers ago — India had clinched the historic Natwest Trophy at Lord’s beating England.

Mohammad Kaif (extreme right), Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh (left) with the NatWest Trophy at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2002.

For the cricket romantics, July 13, 2002, is hard to forget. After all, it was on this day—sixteen summers ago—India had clinched the historic Natwest Trophy at Lord’s beating England.

And one of the architects of this victory was batsman Mohammad Kaif, who played an unbeaten knock of 87 to guide his team home.

On Friday, as the cricketing world celebrates the anniversary of that historic feat, Kaif has retired from all forms of cricket.

In a letter to BCCI acting president, C. K. Khanna, and acting secretary, Amitabh Chaudhary, Kaif has made it clear that he will be hanging up his boots. “I am retiring today as it’s been 16 years since the historic NatWest Trophy win in which I was glad to play my part, and I’d like to remember that as I bow out,” he has written in the letter.

The 37-year-old Kaif played 13 Tests and 125 ODIs for India and even was a part of India’s World Cup team of 2003, which reached the final.

In domestic cricket, Kaif has played for Uttar Pradesh, before moving to Chattisgarh two years ago. He also has aspirations to turn into a coach and was even short-listed for Afghanistan’s coaching job last year.