On this day, that year: Mohammad Kaif led India to victory in a thrilling Natwest Series final over England
Centuries from Marcus Trescothick and captain Nasser Hussain helped England score 325/5 in the Natwest Series final at Lord’s in 2002, and when India lost to talisman Sachin Tendulkar with a score of 146/5 in the 24th over for their chase, it looked like the hosts would go for an easy victory.
Instead, the match then turned out to be an important milestone in the history of Indian cricket.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, England lost opener Nick Knight but captain Nasser Hussain and Marcus Trescothick put on a 185-run stand that gave them a solid platform to post a big total. Both Trescothick and Hussain got hundreds before a late cameo from Andrew Flintoff that helped England post 325.
While India had a fine start, captain Ganguly fell after making a statement with his 60 from just 43 balls. One brought another as opener Sehwag fell in the very next over to Ashley Giles for 45. India’s middle-order collapsed. India went from 106 for 0 to 146 for 5. More importantly, they had lost Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar cheaply in the said period of play.
That seemed to be it for India but then when the seniors fell, the youngsters stepped up. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif were still only establishing themselves in international cricket and the pair combined to turn the tide in India’s favour. They put up 120 runs off 106 balls for the sixth wicket before Yuvraj eventually fell to Paul Collingwood on 69 off 63 balls.
A useful cameo then followed from Harbhajan Singh, who scored 15 off 13 balls, but Andrew Flintoff pegged India back once again with the former’s wicket as well as that of Anil Kumble. Zaheer Khan, who was India’s best bowler earlier with three wickets, stuck on with Kaif and the requirement came down to two needed off the last over with Zaheer on strike.
Flintoff was the man with the ball and the first two deliveries went for no runs. With four balls left, Zaheer pushed the next delivery towards the onside and went for a rather tight single. The fielder attempted a direct hit and missed and the batsmen went for another run off the overthrow, thus sealing a remarkable two-wicket win for India.
Captain Sourav Ganguly could be seen waving his shirt in what has now become an iconic image in the anals of Indian cricket history. Kaif finished the match unbeaten on 87 off 75 balls.
