Swinging pendulum and Dada taking off shirt ,Lord’s balcony.

July 13 2002,

OnThisDay in 2002 Indian Cricket Team registered a famous victory against England Cricket, NatWest Series final.

Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh heroics led Men In Blue: Team India to NatWest trophy against England Cricket. This was the highest successful chase in the tournament final at that time.

Nasser Hussain won the toss and quite rightly decided to bat first and put up a total to crumble fame Indian batting lineup.

Nick Knight and Trescothick put on a decent opening stand before Knight being castled by Zaheer Khan. The next man to walk in was English skipper Hussain who started cautiously before unleashing his front foot off -drive.

The duo put on 185 runs stand off 175 balls, Trescothick completing his 💯 off 89 deliveries . Indian team desperately looking for a wicket which was ultimately provided by season campaigner Anil Kumble.

Naseer registered his first limited over a century in 118 balls. The three wickets in succession reduced England from 307/2 in 46.4 overs to 312/5 in 48.1 overs. Zaheer and Nehra just gave 13 runs in last to overs as England set up a mammoth total of 325 runs.

The most successful chase before this match was in the same year by invincible Ponting men in 2002 against Proteas.

The scenario in the finals of tournament makes it even more difficult.There was only once instance in a finale when a team chased down three hundred plus. Azhar men overpowered Pakistan in the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup finale, swashbuckling start by Tendulkar 41 off 26 , run a ball 82 by Robin Singh and man of the match Sourav Ganguly century as he held the Indian innings together.

The daunting task was ahead for team India to chase down a world record total in a finale.

The only stats which was somehow tilted in the favor of Men in Blue was that they were the third-best team in final while chasing, next only to Kangaroos and Rainbow nation.

The Indian openers gave a flying start as Sehwag-Sourav duo put 106 runs opening stand. Sourav played some of the exquisite shorts of extra cover, Indian was extremely brutal as he completed fifty off 35 balls. This were some of the rare scenes in Indian cricket when someone overshadowed Sehwag. The game changed the course as it use to be in the 90s, a great start followed by middle-order collapse. Giles and Ronnie Irani dismantled Sachin, Dravid, Mongia, and Sehwag as the visitor was reduced from 106/0 to 147/5 in just in the space of sixty-four deliveries.

The yet another defeat was around the corner, the onus was on two youngsters Yuvraj and Kaif who made his ODI debut in the same year against the same opposition.

India needed something special to chase down 179 off 26 overs. The pair kept on rotating strike with odd boundaries against Giles and Irani spell. The over which changed the complexion was over number thirty-eight the southpaw smashed Freddie for three consecutive fours. The momentum was back to India as they piled up forty-four runs in four overs of pace bowlers and Irani. The left-right hand combination added 121 runs for the sixth wicket.

The highest partnership by a lower middle order i.e number five or lower ,in successful chase of finale was 122 runs stand by Chris Cairns and Chris Harris of ICC Knockout final 2000.

The Indian record while successful chasing a target was held by Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh in the group stage of the tournament.

Paul Collingwood dismissed Yuvraj, leaving India 59 to win off 50 deliveries. The visitor needed someone to support Kaif on the other end who has just completed his half-century. The offie Harbhajan and Kaif smashed the English bowler and put on forty-seven runs stand in just thirty-five balls. Now all boxes were checked and India was on the verge of a historic win.

The record is quite extraordinary in a sense with so many rules changed in ODI cricket, powerplay coming into the picture. The batsman is more aggressive now with the advent of T20 cricket; even then, the record is still intact.

In the overall top ten chases in tournament final India has four entries, including 2011 world cup finale, Tendulkar Sharjah classic.

The most defining moment of the Indian team was awaiting, Dada taking of shirt in the historic Lord’s balcony.

The idea came to my mind just at the moment. I remembered how Andrew Flintoff took off his shirt at Wankhede to celebrate a 3-3 series draw before, and I just thought why not do the same at Lord’s,”

“The idea came to my mind just at the moment. I remembered how Andrew Flintoff took off his shirt at Wankhede to celebrate a 3-3 series draw before, and I just thought why not do the same at Lord’s,” Ganguly

“I was standing on the right side. VVS Laxman was on my left and Harbhajan Singh was behind my back. So, as I was removing my T-shirt, VVS tried to tell me, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it!’ After I removed my shirt, Bhajji asked, ‘What do I do now?’ And I said, ‘Tu bhi khol de!’.”