Sourav Ganguly's Shirt Removal Celebration at the Lords

(Sourav Ganguly waving his T-shirt after winning the match against England)

Lord’s Balcony has always produced some of the most iconic moments for the Indian cricket team in the history of the game. Be it lifting the 1983 World Cup, Natwest Trophy win or Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami’s match-winning partnership, the fans just love to see this place. The one moment that will always remain special for the Indian team and the fans is when Sourav Ganguly celebrated the ODI series win against England at the Lord’s Cricket Ground balcony by taking off his T-shirt and whirling it around to celebrate the win. That was the time when the Indian team peaked at the right time and it was the series that brought out the best of them. But what’s the whole story behind this and how this led to such events? Come let’s find out.

Flintoff’s celebration against India

Earlier in the year 2002, England visited India for a 6-match ODi series and both the teams were having an amazing series with respect to the cricket played. India managed to win the first match of the series at Eden Gardens by 22 runs but England came back hard in the 2nd ODI and defeated the hosts by 16 runs to level the series in Cuttack. The next two matches of the series were won by the Indian team at Chennai and Kanpur which allowed them to go 3-1 in the 4-match series and hence it looked like the series was done and dusted for the England team.

(Andrew Flintoff waving his T-shirt at the Wankhede Stadium)

But a comeback from the England team in the 5th ODI at Delhi got the series 3-2 as they won the match by just 2 runs. For the last match, it looked like a tough competition and hence both the teams were prepared for it. While batting first, the England team scored 255 runs and hence it looked like a top target at the ground of Wankhede. Coming to bat, the Indian team had a tough night after Sourav Ganguly got out to Ashley Giles. In the last over, the Indian team needed 10 runs from their 2 wickets and this is where Andrew Flintoff came and knocked out the last two wickets to give the England team a win. He celebrated drawing the series by taking off his T-shirt and roaming in the ground like that. This agitated Ganguly and from here, he planned revenge on the England team.

2002 Natwest Series Finals

Later in the year 2002, India, England and Sri Lanka met in the Natwest series which was scheduled to get some amazing entertainment for the fans. All three teams played 6 matches in the series and it was the Indian team that topped the points table with 19 points while England finished at the 2nd position with 15 points to their name. The Finals of the series were now scheduled between India and England on 13th July 2002 at the Lord's, London.

England went on to win the toss in the final match of the series and they went on to bat first. The first innings of the match proved to be one of the most destructive ones for the Indian team as they were hit for 325 runs with the loss of 5 wickets in their 50 overs. Fighting centuries from Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain made it possible for them to come out well and some late blitzes from Andrew Flintoff who scored 40 runs from 32 balls helped the team to get to the total where it was looking impossible for the Indian team to claim a win.

(Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain with the Natwest Trophy during a photoshoot)

Coming to the Indian batting, they had a tough task of making 326 runs from the 50 overs, and with a young team, it looked impossible for them to come out well here. However, the opening partnership of 106 runs from Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly helped them to set a tone for the remainder of the run chase. Sehwag started hitting boundaries while Ganguly was playing patiently. But the first wicket led to a mini-collapse of the Indian batting as they lost the wickets at regular intervals. They lost 5 wickets at just 146 runs in 24 overs and the target looked far more ahead than what it was.

England vs India, Final at London, Jul 13 2002, NatWest Series
England	India
325/5 (50 overs)	326/8 (49.3 overs)
Nasser Hussain 115 (128)	Mohammad Kaif 87* (75)
Zaheer Khan 3/62 (10 overs)	Ashley Giles 2/47 (10 overs)
India won by 2 wickets

The youngsters of the team, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif stepped up at this time and managed to score well. They took the Indian team to 267 runs from 42 overs before Yuvraj Singh was dismissed for a well-made 69 runs from just 63 balls in that match for them. However, with the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, things looked a bit tight for the Indian team and with this, they lost the wickets of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble in one over to get the Indian team at 315 with the loss of 8 wickets in 48 overs.

(India celebrating after winning the Natwest series Finals against England)

With 11 runs needed in the final two overs, the pressure was on the Indian team because they had just 2 wickets with them and Zaheer Khan wasn’t an experienced batter at that time. In the 49th over, Darren Gough was having an economical over until Mohammad Kaif took his chance and got the four runs to make the equation of needing just 2 runs from the last over. After picking 2 wickets in the 48th over of the game, Andrew Flintoff was handed the ball for the last over.

With the first two balls being dot, on the third ball, Zaheer Khan took a chance and ran for a single by just tapping the ball. However, the fielder reached the ball well and made a throw to the wicket which wasn’t done well and to this, Zaheer Khan and Mohammad Kaif were able to get back for the second run which gave India a win in the Natwest series Finals by 2 wickets. The crowd erupted and it was Sourav Ganguly in the Lord's balcony who removed his T-shirt and whirled it in excitement.