Published: Feb 03, 2015, 11:08 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 03, 2015, 11:08 AM (IST)
Everyone famously remembers India’s memorable victory at Lord’s in the NatWest final in 2002 against England. With the win came the moment of joy from Sourav Ganguly who stood at the famous balcony of Lord’s ground and waved his Indian jersey. Recollecting that day, the then Indian manager Rajiv Shukla on Monday claimed that captain Sourav Ganguly wanted all members of the Indian team to do the ‘shirt act’ according to a report on Mid-Day.
Shukla mentioned that seniors Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid refused to do it. India had chased down an imposing target of 326 with a match winning partnership (121 runs) between Mohammad Kaif (87 not out) and Yuvraj Singh (69). They did it with three balls and two wickets to spare in July 2002.
In the tense final moments Ganguly was watching with his teammates and immediately removed his blue jersey when Kaif hit the winning run and swung it around his head like a lasso thrower. Speaking at a cricket conclave, Shukla said Ganguly did it as a riposte to what England’s Andrew Flintoff had done following a series-levelling One-Day International (ODI) victory at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai the previous year.
“Ganguly wanted the whole team to do that act. But senior players like Sachin and Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman refused to do so”, he added.
