July 13, 2002 - The Historic Day for Team India

It was exactly on this day way back in 2002 When Sourav Ganguly and his company conquered the famous Lord’s encounter. On this day, July 13, 16 years ago, England cricket was Bamboozled by the Men in Blue. It was the famous final of NatWest series in 2002 which brought glory to the national in nutshell.

A flashback scene:

In an anguish and excruciation, the former Indian skipper, Ganguly threw the water bottle and moved away from the dressing room. He removed his shirt and started to rejoice in the balcony of the Lord’s.

On the flip side, Andrew Flintoff did a similar thing in a same fashion few months before the incident. India was playing a bilateral series at home with a scoreline of 3-2 in India’s favour.

Being a decider, it was the final fixture of six-match series that was a nail-biting clash. Surprisingly, home team fell short of five runs in a tight chase at Mumbai. Flintoff went shirtless and ran throughout the ground in a mocking celebration.

Why Lords?

Considering the importance of the Lord’s and keeping in view the results of past finals, it was a must-win final for India. Under the leadership of Ganguly, India reached almost in all the finals, however, they were upsetting their fans in the mega clash by being close to lifting the trophy.

A pile of runs from England.

England set a pile of runs at the Mecca of cricket as Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain took India to a respectable total of 325 runs. After winning the toss, England batted first. The host team lost wickets early on however, Indian spinners didn’t get any purchase of it.

A spark towards the glory.

India had a gloomy start with the ball however it was opposite when it came to the batting. Skipper Ganguly at the crease loved to give it back to the English bowlers what India faced.

Virender Sehwag and Ganguly fondly known as Dada didn’t let any speedster to settle as a result, India got off to a flier of 100 runs opening partnership. Suddenly, Indian faces who were dejected turned back to grin as momentum shifted from England to India.

A sudden collapse:

When India was sensing the taste of victory, India went under a sudden slump. Dramatically things took place when visitors slipped to 100 for no loss to 146 for five for India in a blink of an eye.

However, It was young Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif in the middle who were justifying the seven batsman theory of their skipper.

A handy partnership.

Young Yuvi alongside Kaif started to garner runs in a quick succession. They kept the run rate in control. After a magnificent fifty, Yuvraj was dismissed at a crucial time. Soon after the dismissal of the southpaw, Anil Kumble, and Harbhajan Singh to failed cheaply. After eight wickets down, before  Kaif and Zaheer Khan who were still interested to fight it on.

The Climax:

Kaif and Zaheer managed to take the game into the last over. Two runs were required with Kaif standing at the non-striker’s end, Flintoff who was bowling the final over might have stricken with nostalgic feelings.

Two dots to start off with a close wide call that went into England’s favour, England were hot favourites now. Sourav Ganguly was fuming but he changed his body language in all of sudden as India achieved the victory in the very next ball.

Here is the video from the famous chase:

July 13, 2002 – #TeamIndia won the NatWest series final #ThisDayThatYear @MohammadKaif @ImZaheer @YUVSTRONG12 @SGanguly99 pic.twitter.com/jKeFXEmCgk

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 13, 2017