Yuvraj Singh Recalls Historic 2002 Natwest Series Win At Lord’s, Shows Gratitude Towards Mohammad Kaif

On this day in 2002, the Indian cricket team registered one of its most iconic wins overseas when they defeated a strong England side in their home territory to win the Natwest Tri-Series, which also featured Sri Lanka. Yuvraj Singh made a throwback post on his Twitter recalling the historic win over the English team at Lord’s.

Yuvraj Singh even thanked Mohammad Kaif as it was their crucial partnership that helped India earn this crucial victory. “#Throwback to this memorable day when we ensured our tricolour flies high with pride 🇮🇳. This encounter should have been called NaTEST instead of Natwest coz it “tested” us at so many levels! The victory won’t have been possible without the efforts of all teammates, especially,” Yuvraj tweeted.

Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif Stich Match-Winning Partnership

The final took place at Lord’s, the most iconic venue in the United Kingdom for cricket. A formidable English line-up featuring Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, skipper Naseer Hussain, Michael Vaughan, Andre Flintoff, Darren Gough met India’s young, energetic team featuring Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, supported by veteran stars like Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble.

After electing to bat first, England put on 325/5 in their 50 overs. Skipper Naseer scored 115 in 128 balls, with 10 fours. He had a 185-run stand with Marcus Trescothick for the second wicket. The left-handed Trescothick also scored a brutal 109 in just 100 balls, with seven fours and two sixes. All-rounder Andrew Flintoff played a supporting knock of 40 in 32 balls.

India needed 326 runs to win the final. But the possibility of an Indian win looked doubtful as during this period, India had often made a mess out of big run chases. Youngsters in the team also did not have plenty of big-match experience to settle the nerves and chase smoothly.

Openers Sehwag (45 in 49 balls with seven fours) and Ganguly (60 in 43 balls, with 10 fours and a six) nonetheless, gave India the start they wanted, scoring 106 in just 15 overs. After dismissals of both openers, India lost direction with some quick wickets. Ronnie Irani and Ashley Giles had struck, getting big wickets of Sachin (14) and Dravid (5).

With India at 146/5 in 24 overs, without much experience and recognised batters left in the line-up, youngsters Yuvraj and Mohammed Kaif played with responsibility and helped India cross 250 runs. They stitched a sixth-wicket stand of 121 runs, which Collingwood ended by dismissing Yuvraj for 69 (63 balls), which consisted of nine fours and a six.

Kaif kept fighting with the tailenders. He stitched a valuable 47-run stand with Harbhajan Singh, who scored 15 runs worth its weight in gold. Kaif and Zaheer (4) helped India seal a two-wicket win with three balls to go. Kaif was India’s hero, scoring 87 in just 75 balls with six fours and two sixes.
Irani, Giles and Flintoff took two wickets each but India pulled off a heist, highlighting their fighting spirit and attacking game

Sourav Ganguly’s Iconic Shirt Wave From Lord’s Balcony

The most iconic image connected to this match came after the win, with Sourav Ganguly taking off his shirt on the Lord’s balcony and waving it with expressions of anger and joy on his face. He had avenged a similar act done by Flintoff at Wankhede’s Stadium in 2002, India’s most iconic venue and in a way, the centre of Indian cricket.

Ganguly’s act signified the coming of a fearless new India, who would not take any challenge lying down. The team beat a top-class side at their own home.

This is considered as one of India’s best overseas wins because not only it helped India win the tri-series title, but the match winners of the future like Yuvraj, Sehwag, Harbhajan and Zaheer gained plenty of experience that would help India win the inaugural T20 World Cup (2007), ICC Cricket World Cup (2011) in the next ten years or so.

(with ANI inputs)