Remember calling Kaif a ‘bus driver’ before his epic at Lord’s, recalls Nasser Hussain

05/17/2020

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Former England skipper Nasser Hussian, in a Sky Sports podcast, has recalled how he referred to India’s Mohammad Kaif as a ‘bus driver’ before the latter’s match-winning knock at Lord’s in 2002. Hussain further noted that the 2002 Natwest Final chase gave a huge boost to Indian cricket.

Nasser Hussain recalled calling Kaif a 'bus driver'

The Natwest Final tri-series between India and England in 2002, which saw India pull off an impossible heist, is, till date, widely regarded as the match which saw the Men in Blue assert themselves as a powerhouse in the world of cricket. Chasing a mammoth total of 326, India were reeling at 146/5, before an unlikely 121-run stand between two youngsters, Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, propelled them to an impossible two-wicket win.

Nasser Hussain, the man who skippered England in the Lord’s epic, recently appeared in a Sky Sports podcast and decided to take a trip down the memory lane. The former English skipper, who is now a renowned commentator, revealed an extremely interesting incident from the game and stated that when Kaif walked to the crease, he called the youngster a ‘bus driver’, mocking him for being an unknown entity. Eventually, that came to bite Hussain on the backside as it was Kaif’s unbeaten 87 that took India over the line.

“It was the greatest innings that lad played. He will be remembered for that. I saw a picture of him and Yuvraj with the Lord’s in the background, and he had tweeted, “great memories”,” Hussain said in a Sky Sports Podcast, reported Hindustan Times.

“I remember him coming in and there was a bit of sledge, because we had them five wickets down, and someone said - ‘who’s this, then skip’. So, I said ‘I think he might drive the bus, he might drive Tendulkar on the bus’. When he hit the winning run, he gave me that look - ‘not bad for a bus driver!’,” he added.

Hussain, who was incidentally born in Chennai, noted how the Lord’s chase was a turning point in Indian cricket and gave a massive boost to cricket in the country.

“It is one of the most top-five cricket chases, in a nice sort of way. Because it was done by those two. If it had been done by Tendulkar and Sehwag - it would be like, ‘okay, those two did it again’. But it was done by two unknown young lads, and it gave a huge boost to Indian cricket.”

In response to Nasser’s revelation, Kaif, too, came up with a witty remark of his own, on Twitter.

.@nassercricket, thanks to that innings the bus driver drives a convertible now :) @skycricket https://t.co/2nnFyNhkhn
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 16, 2020

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