India’s come-from-behind win in the 2002 NatWest Series final against England at Lord’s, where Ganguly took off his jersey and waved it in celebration is one of world cricket’s most iconic moments and perhaps Indian cricket’s second-favorite sight of an Indian skipper on the revered balcony.
Kapil Dev and his team had their first ever World Cup victory at Lord’s balcony 19 years ago just like this day when they crashed the mighty West Indies in a final. The memory of ganguly exuberant after India lifted the Natwest series remains as fresh to many fans as ever if not stronger.
When it came to the final match for Nasser Hussain’s team in NatWest Series, India had lost nine ODI finals consecutively; England set a huge total of 325/5 putting pressure back on Indians.
Marcrus Trescothick (109) and Nasser Hussain (115) deflated Indian bowling attack with a 185-run stand for the second wicket while chasing that huge target, india slipped to badly to 146/5 after being given a start of 106 runs by openers ganguly (60) and Virender Sehwag (45).
However, one moment later an English victory was no longer a forgone conclusion because two young players from India –Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh – started playing fearlessly but were unable to continue from where they stopped.
These two batters combined brilliantly for a stand on 121 runs off just 6th wickets which got India back into position whereby they could force success. Finally, Kaif hit along four more boundaries off khan Zaheer Khan (4 not out) in order to give them that thrilling two-wicket win in the final over of the match.
While Kaif was unbeaten on 87, Yuvraj struck a flamboyant 69.
Thus, one saw mad celebrations from the Lord’s balcony that had Ganguly shirtless and waving his indian jersey before running onto the field towards Kaif.
