On this day (July 13), 20 years ago, the cricketing world saw an improbable chase, rise of a new star, a shirtless Ganguly, and India getting better of Nasser Hussain-led England. India took on England in the final of the NatWest Series on July 13, 2002. England had won the toss and elected to bat first and went off to a good start. Marcus Trescothick and captain, Nasser Husain, notched up centuries and England finished on 325/5 after their 50 overs, giving India a massive target of 326.
India, then, hadn’t chased a target of 325 or above in their history and had to pull off a miracle to make that happen. India were off to a positive start as the opening pair of captain, Sourav Ganguly, and Virendra Sehwag started taking on the English bowlers from word go itself. The pair put up a 106-run stand in the span of 15 overs as India looked in a much stronger position.
However, resilient and disciplined bowling from England’s bowlers saw India’s top and middle-order collapse and India were reduced to 146/5 after 24 overs.
The collapse became a blessing in disguise for India, as they found a new star and a future-legend in the form of Yuvraj Singh, and one of the best utility players ever, in the form of Mohammad Kaif.
The young pair played beautifully and put-up a brilliant 121-run stand between them for the 6th wicket as India were heading towards a great upset. Yuvraj departed for 69 off 63 balls as a bowling change from Nasser Hussain worked the treat as Paul Collingwood took his only wicket of the match.
Another young start of the Indian team, Harbhajan Singh came into bat and held his guard, as Kaif continued his carnage over Nasser Hussain’s men.
The game saw another twist as Flintoff produced a beautiful 48th over to get rid of both, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, in the same over. Mohammad Kaif got a crucial boundary off the last ball of Darren Gough’s over and India were just two away from a historic and iconic victory.
Up came Andrew Flintoff for the last over to defend 2 runs. On the third ball of the last over, Flintoff bowled a full toss to Zaheer Khan and he pushed the ball towards Covers to snatch a quick single and a needless overthrow followed as Mohammad Kaif was running towards the keeper’s end to get on strike, but the overthrow led Kaif and Zaheer to come back for another and India chased down their, then, most successful target in ODI history.
The Indian supporters at the Lord’s were on their feet as they witnessed the Young Lads get the job done over the English on their home soil. The Indian dugout went berserk as Ganguly gave cricketing world one of the iconic celebration in its history, as the Prince of Calcutta removed his shirt in the balcony of The Lord’s, a perfect revenge and fitting reply to what Flintoff did to India few months back at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mohammad Kaif, as he ran past Hussain on his way to the pavilion, quipped, ‘Not bad for a bus driver, was it? (in reference to Nasser sledging Kaif during the match when he called Kaif a bus driver when he came to bat).
The match, the passion, the celebrations, everything, etched down in the minds of generation of cricket fans. It also embarked a new era of dominance of Indian team in the limited overs format.
20 years on, the memories and significance of the match still stays fresh in the minds of all the Indian fans as Mohammad Kaif’s unbeaten 87 and Yuvraj Singh’s 69 will always be a part of one of the most iconic and important innings in the history of Indian cricket.