Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif's valuable partnership helped Team India to beat the massive score of 326.
The day of 13 July 2002 proved to be very special for Indian cricket. Team India won the NatWest series final against England on the same day. After the victory, captain Sourav Ganguly took out his shirt from the balcony of Lord's and waved it. In the last match, England had set a big target of 326 runs for India to win. At one point, India lost five wickets for just 146 runs. But Yuvraj (69) and Mohammad Kaif (87 not out) batted brilliantly and played a significant role in helping Team India to a thrilling two-wicket victory with three balls to spare.
Trescothick-Hussein scored a century
England captain Nasser Hussain won the toss and batted first. Zaheer Khan made opener Nick Knight (14) reach the pavilion, but second opener Marcus Trescothick was in full swing. Trescothick made 185 runs for the second wicket with Nasser Hussain to help England reach a large total. Nasser Hussain scored 115, while Trescothick played brilliant innings of 109 runs. Andrew Flintoff (40) batted brilliantly in the last over to take England to 325/5.
Chasing the target of over 300 runs in ODIs was considered impossible. It was an even more difficult task in front of fast bowlers like Darren Gough, Andrew Flintoff, and Alex Tudor. Virender Sehwag (45) and Sourav Ganguly (60) got the Indian team off to an impressive start with a quick 106-run partnership for the first wicket. But after the dismissal of Sehwag and Ganguly, the match took a dramatic turn. After this, the English bowlers broke the back of the Indian team by cheaply dismissing Dinesh Mongia (9), Rahul Dravid (5), and Sachin Tendulkar (14).
Yuvraj-Kaif's memorable innings
India had lost 5 wickets for 146 runs and, India's path to victory seemed difficult. But after this Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif shared 121 runs and once again raised India's hopes. When the score was at 267, Collingwood ended this partnership by dismissing Yuvraj. After this, Kaif with Harbhajan Singh shared 47 runs for the 7th wicket and tilted the match towards India. But in the 48th over, Flintoff created a ruckus in the Indian camp by dismissing Harbhajan (15) and Kumble (0). Now India needed 12 runs from 13 balls. The entire responsibility was on the shoulders of Kaif and Zaheer. Both the players gave India a memorable victory, living up to the expectations of crores of Indian fans.
Took revenge from Flintoff
Even though Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif had given India victory in the last match. But the actual hero of the match emerged as captain Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly not only celebrated the victory by waving his shirt but also took revenge on Wankhede. Actually, on 3 February 2002, the India-England ODI match was held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. In that match, England defeated India by five runs to draw the six-match series 3-3. Batting first, England had scored 255 runs for losing all wickets. In response, the entire Indian team was all out at 250. In this match, Andrew Flintoff celebrated by taking off the T-shirt after the victory. Sourav Ganguly replied to Flintoff's celebration of the same victory at Lord's.
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