5 best fielding efforts by Mohammad Kaif

#1 Shoaib Malik’s catch, 2004

Kaif pips teammate Hemang Badani for the catch, Karachi 2004

There was something electric about the setting at the Karachi stadium for the first match of the India-Pakistan series, India’s first visit to their neighbours in a long while. As if to keep justice to the exalted status of the rivalry, players from both teams played out a classic, a nail-biter that refuses to fade from memory, even twelve years down the line.

Having posted 349, India would have thought they had done their job, but for Inzamam-Ul-Haq, ever India’s thorn, who composed a century and kept things working for Pakistan. With 17 required off the last two overs, and Shoaib Malik and Moin Khan in the middle, Pakistan would have surely fancied their chances.

Facing Zaheer Khan in the penultimate over, Malik tried to go for glory, aiming to clear the infield to get a much-needed boundary. All he managed was slicing the ball high in the air.

Two Indian fielders, Hemang Badani and Mohammad Kaif, converged for the catch. For a moment, it seemed as if the two have made a botch of it, for there was no communication, only two blue blobs speeding towards each other. As Badani shaped up to take the catch, Kaif ran across him, gobbling the ball before Badani could reach, almost colliding with the latter as he held onto the vital catch.