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On July 13, 2002, India defeated England in the final of the NatWest Series, also featuring Sri Lanka, played at Lord’s in London. Since 1999, Indian played nine finals of multi-team series before this one and lost eight; the ninth one being abandoned. But, in this series, the Indian cricket team played flamboyantly, losing only one match out of six completed ones, beating England once in three matches (one was washed out) and Sri Lanka three in three. The final match proved to be a challenge for India, a team which never chased 300+ total outside Asia was given a target of 326 by England.
England won the toss and chose to bat first on a warm and dry July morning at Lord's in London. Marcus Trescothick (109 from 100 balls) and captain Nasser Hussain (115 off 128 balls) shared a 185-run partnership. Upon reaching his century, Hussain also had a 80-run stand with Andrew Flintoff, who scored 40 in 32 before getting out to Zaheer Khan’s full toss. The kind of innings Trescothick and Hussain played destroyed all the preconceived bowling plans of Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly.
Even the revered spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh went for 107 runs in their 20 overs, with only the former one dismissing Trescothick. The century by Nasser Hussain was his only century in his 72nd outing in the 50-over format. He was dismissed by Ashish Nehra in trying to sweep the ball, which fetched him a six in just the previous ball. With the help of these innings, England put the score of 325/5.
Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh shared memorable stand for sixth wicket in NatWest Series final
The way Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag began the Indian batting, it appeared that the total would be chased much before. The former raced to a fifty in only 35 balls, the latter could not reach his fifty, but with a ferocious strokeplay managed to score 45 runs. In a span of ten deliveries, they departed to the pavilion. Then inside another five overs, Dinesh Mongia, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid were dismissed, leaving the Indian side 146/5 at that time. From there Yuvraj Singh (69 off 63 balls) and Mohammad Kaif (87 from 75 balls) stabilised the decline of the Indian batting lineup.
Both the youngsters added 120 runs in 106 deliveries, which led to English bowlers getting nervous. But, with Yuvraj’s wicket, a top edge off Collingwood’s delivery, England assumed that they might win it. But, Kaif was still there with Harbhajan Singh, and they made a partnership of 49 runs. By the 48th over, India was eight down with 12 needed and Zaheer Khan on the crease with Kaif. An edge for four by Kaif to the end of 49th over simplified things for India, they needed just two runs in the final over.
The first two dot balls created pressure in the Indian camp as well, then both the batters completed the two runs after Zaheer Khan managed to find the gap on Andrew Flintoff's bowling as India chased the total with three balls remaining.
