Pic Courtesy: twitter
Sabyasachi Bagchi, Kolkata: Dreams do come true and for a certain cricketer Mohammad Kaif it came true on July 13 in 2002. A golden chapter was added into the history of Indian cricket as India won the finals of the NatWest final against England at the Lord’s.
After winning the toss, England batted first and both Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain scored centuries. After a formidable opening performance, Flintoff’s quick firing 40 took the hosts to 325-5 after 50 overs.
Coming to chase, openers Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag took India to a good position after both sealed an opening century stand. But the match took a turn when the four big boys, Sehwag, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid returned to the pavilion in just 10 overs.
However Kaif and Yuvraj took the game in their hands and guided India to a memorable victory. The match is also best remembered for Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly special celebration when he took of his shirt and waved it from the balcony of Lords.
“We still get Goosebumps when we think about that match. Chasing a target of 325 at an English pitch and that too at a stadium like Lord’s is a huge achievement for us. The important 121 runs partnership with Yuvi and a 47-run partnership with Harbhajan won us the game” said Md. Kaif, while taking to www.xtratime.in correspondent Sabyasachi Bagchi.
“Few months before this match England visited India and the series ended 3-3 at Bombay, where Flintoff waved his jersey. And till today, I still wonder whether Dada’s jersey waving celebration was a payback or not?” said Kaif.
“This victory brought about a change in Indian cricket. Yuvi played a dream innings at that time. I remember when we were batting at 320; a delivery from Darren Gough took an edge from by bat and went for the boundary and no one thought at a crucial moment of the game I would get a loose delivery like that” concluded Kaif.