Kaif was born in a Muslim family on 1 December 1980 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He started his career from Green Park Hostel, Kanpur. His father Mohammad Tarif played for the Railways cricket team and the Uttar Pradesh cricket team . His brother Mohammad Saif plays for Madhya Pradesh cricket team & Uttar Pradesh cricket team.

Kaif married Puja Yadav, a Noida based journalist, on 25 March 2011.

As of July 2005, Kaif was one of only five cricketers from Uttar Pradesh to have made it to the national side.^[8] In 2009, the Indian team was well represented by Uttar Pradesh with as many as three regulars, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and Rudra Pratap Singh in the ODI team. He was the 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.

Test debut

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.^[9]

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 award for his consistency in all the three ODIs.

Kaif earned himself a Test cap against South Africa when he was at a very young 20 years age. 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 is a very fast runner between the wickets and an excellent cover fielder; most notably his agility and throwing accuracy.

He also holds the record for the most number of catches by a fielder in a World Cup match –> FOUR (against Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup at Johannesburg on 10 March 2003).

Middle Order

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