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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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Kaif guides India to remarkable win over England Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from England LONDON, July 13 - India produced one of the most remarkable run-chases in the history of the one-day competition to beat England by two wickets with three balls to spare and win the NatWest series final played in front of a packed house at Lord's here today. In bright sunshine and on a perfect day for cricket at the headquarters of the game, India chased England's total of 325-5 off 50 overs, replying with 326-8 from 49.3 overs. The win ended India's run of nine consecutive losing finals prior to this match. This was the second best successful run-chase in the history of one-day internationals after Australia chased 327 to beat South Africa at Port Elizabeth early this year. India's match-winner was 21-year-old Allahabad right-hander Mohammad Kaif who hit a career best 87 not out off 75 balls with two sixes and six fours. He was picked the man-of-the-match. The Indian run chase was in two phases. Faced with an asking rate of 6.52 runs an over, they got off to a great start when Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag put on 106 off 88 balls for the first wicket. England then hit back capturing five wickets for 40 runs in 57 balls reducing them to 146-5, before the final act came into play in the shape of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif who put on 121 off 106 balls for the sixth wicket to take the game away from England. Left-hander Yuvraj was dismissed for a brilliant 69 scored off 63 balls with one six and nine fours with India needing 59 off 50 balls. Harbhajan (15) helped Kaif add 47 off 35 balls and despite Flintoff taking two wickets in two balls, Kaif kept his end up and continued to play the innings of his life to steer India to this stunning win. Ganguly who set the pace hit a rapid 60 off 43 balls with one six and 10 fours and outshone the usually quick scoring Sehwag in the opening partnership. Sehwag went for 45 off 49 balls with seven fours. England struck back through Ashley Giles and Ronnie Irani who each took two wickets apiece. Giles took the big wickets of Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar (14), while Irani picked up Dinesh Mongia (9) and Rahul Dravid (5). But India never relented despite these losses and showed the depth in their batting by successfully chasing the total. Centuries from Marcus Trescothick and captain Nasser Hussain saw England rattle up an impressive 325-5 off 50 overs, making full use of winning the toss and batting first on an excellent pitch. No Englishman had previously got a hundred in the current series, Trescothick's 86 v India on this ground on June 29, being the highest. They compensated for the delay with two in the final Trescothick and Hussain. Hussain on reaching his maiden one-day century in his 72nd match, took a crack at the English press by showing the no. 3 on his shirt back. Most of the media men had written him off as a failure in that position and he proved a point today. It was a good toss for England to win and Nick Knight's wicket for 14 when he played over a Zaheer Khan delivery in the eighth over, only brought Trescothick and Hussain together in what appeared to be a match-winning partnership. The pair rattled off 185 off 177 balls which took the winds out of the Indian sails. Under pressure the Indian fielding wilted with Trescothick being missed on three occasions at 32, 52 and 60, all possible chances, between the 11th and 18th overs and Hussain at 46. The pair decimated the bowling to all parts of the ground laying the foundation for the highest-ever total attained in a final at Lord's in any competition. England's total of 325-5 was their fourth highest total in one-day internationals. Trescothick batting confidently as he had done throughout the series, completed his third one-day hundred off 89 balls with two sixes and six fours. His previous scores in the competition were 26, 86, 82, 23, 27 and 9 which saw him being eventually being voted man of the series. When he was bowled by Kumble for 109 attempting to sweep a straight ball, he had faced 100 balls. Hussain who was on 81 at that stage continued in partnership with Andy Flintoff raising a further 80 off 60 balls, during which period he moved past his previous best one-day score of 95 against Bangladesh at Nairobi in 2000. Excelling in the square drive and pull the English captain reached his maiden century off 118 balls with seven fours. He made 13 half-centuries before finally breaking the ice. With England's total of 307-2 in 47 overs threatening to reach massive proportions, India somewhat pulled back to take three wickets for five runs in eight balls. Zaheer Khan struck twice to remove Flintoff for 40 and Michael Vaughan for three. Sandwiched between those dismissals was Hussain's wicket at 115 which Ashish Nehra took as the England captain tried to make room to his leg and sweep and was bowled. Hussain faced 128 balls and hit 10 fours. Flintoff's brief innings lasted 32 balls and contained a six and two fours. Zaheer although expensive, finished with three wickets for 62 runs raising his tally in the tournament to 14, the highest by any bowler. Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Fernando was the second highest with 10. England M.Trescothick b Kumble 109 N.Knight b Khan 14 N.Hussain b Nehra 115 A.Flintoff b Khan 40 M.Vaughan c Mongia b Khan 3 P.Collingwood not out 3 R.Irani not out 10 Extras (b-2 lb-16 w-7 nb-6) 31 Total (for five wickets, 50 overs) 325 Fall of wickets: 1-42 2-227 3-307 4-312 5-312 Did not bat: A.Stewart, A.Tudor, D.Gough, A.Giles Bowling:Nehra 10-0-66-1, Khan 10-1-62-3, Kumble 10-0-54-1, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-53-0, Ganguly 3-0-28-0, Sehwag 4-0-26-0, Yuvraj Singh 3-0-18-0 India V.Sehwag b Giles 45 S.Ganguly b Tudor 60 D.Mongia c Stewart b Irani 9 S.Tendulkar b Giles 14 R.Dravid c Knight b Irani 5 Yuvraj Singh c Tudor b Collingwood 69 M.Kaif not out 87 Harbhajan Singh b Flintoff 15 A.Kumble c Stewart b Flintoff 0 Z.Khan not out 4 Extras (b-3 lb-8 w-6 nb-1) 18 Total (for eight wickets, 49.3 overs) 326 Fall of wickets: 1-106 2-114 3-126 4-132 5-146 6-267 7-314 8-314 Did not bat: A.Nehra Bowling:Gough 10-1-63-0, Tudor 9-0-62-1, Flintoff 7.3-0-55-2, Irani 10-0-64-2, Giles 10-0-47-2, Collingwood 3-0-24-1. Result: India won by two wickets. Man of the Match: M Kaif Player of the Series: ME Trescothick |
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