2. England vs India, NatWest Series Final 2002, Lord’s
The way Sourav Ganguly laid the foundation of fresh talents in the team the whole season was commendable. This was his first England tour as a captain and he impressed everyone with his assertive tactics. India quite emphatically drew the test series earlier under tough conditions against England ahead of the NatWest Triangular Series. Skipper Ganguly’s sagacity took India through to the final game against England in Lord’s. Batting first, England set up a mammoth total of 325 in front of India. Replying to England’s flamboyant score, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly took the score past 100 in the 13th over itself. A few balls later, both the openers returned back to the pavilion playing a rash shot. The next 3 wickets fell in quick succession, thereby exposing Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif to the crease. Kaif once stated in an interview that his family turned off the TV when Indians were in such dire straits on the field, as they believed that India is going to lose eventually. But Yuvraj and Kaif unanimously turned around the tables around by adding 121 runs to the score board. The highly frazzled match took another turn, when Yuvraj unfortunately edged the ball to short fine leg. In came Harbhajan Singh who consistently gave strike to Kaif, in order to reach more closer to the target. Flintoff’s scintillating over yet again ripped the Indian team apart by dismissing Harbhajan, followed by Anil Kumble on the next ball. 2 runs were required off the last over with Zaheer Khan on strike, and what happened next is history. Mohammad Kaif being the hero solely carried the pressure in a nerve ending Indian victory on the second last ball of the match. History repeated itself as earlier that year, Andrew Flintoff took off his jersey after winning the final game against India in Wankhede. Well, this time Ganguly signed off the NatWest Series by waving his jersey in Flintoff-style.
