India had won this historic match
Mumbai: On this day, July 13, 2002, the Indian team defeated England in their final match of the NatWest Trophy. It was not easy for India to win the match, as India had a big target ahead of them and even after a good start, the team’s middle order did not last long on the pitch. The Indian players had to work hard to win the final of the tri-series and it was captain Sourav Ganguly who took off his T-shirt and turned it around as soon as India won the match.
The series for the NatWest Trophy was between India, Sri Lanka and England. In the final, India and host England met at Lord’s. England won the toss and elected to bat, setting a target of 325 on the scoreboard. That included 115 from skipper Nasser Hussein and 108 from Marcus Trescottik. Andrew Flintoff also scored 40 runs. For India, Zaheer Khan took 3 wickets while Ashish Nehra and Anil Kumble took one wicket each. India were able to take only five wickets.
On the other hand, skipper Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag gave the Indian team a good start as they chased down a target of 326 runs. The duo put on 106 for the first wicket in 14.3 overs. Sourav Ganguly was dismissed for 60 runs. After that, Virender Sehwag was dismissed for 45, Dinesh Mongia for 9, Rahul Dravid for 5 and Sachin Tendulkar for 14. Within 40 runs, half of India’s team was back in the pavilion. Now that Mohammad Kaif was at the crease with Yuvraj Singh, he did not have much experience in international cricket.
Kaif and Yuvraj shared a 121-run partnership, which created hopes of victory. Yuvraj, meanwhile, was dismissed for 69. Kaif held the team’s side to one end. A short partnership with Harbhajan Singh (15) and Zaheer Khan (4) took the team to the brink of victory and then Zaheer Khan hit a winning shot to give India a 2-wicket victory. Shortly after the victory, captain Sourav Ganguly took off his T-shirt on the Lord’s balcony and turned it over.
In fact, the reason behind the removal of Sourav Ganguly’s T-shirt was England’s Andrew Flintoff. Andrew Flintoff took off his T-shirt to celebrate the one-match series in Mumbai. Ganguly did this to answer him. But even after more than a decade, Ganguly still regrets it. Because he thinks that this is another way to celebrate happiness.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly has written in his autobiography ‘A Century Is Not Enough’ about interesting events in his cricket career. In the same book, he also mentions the final match of the NatWest series and writes about taking off his t-shirt. Ganguly wrote that the team was very excited about the victory in the final and I could not restrain myself when Zaheer Khan hit the winning shot. He also said that it is not appropriate to celebrate by taking off the T-shirt. There were many more ways to celebrate victory.
Ganguly had said in a statement before the launch of the book, “He has taken off his T-shirt and responded to Andrew Flintoff. Ganguly said it was Andrew Flintoff who did it when the England team came to India in 2002. Then I did the same thing after winning the final at Lord’s. ‘
