Team India NatWest series win in 2002 is remembered as one of the greatest series win for the Indian cricket team in its history. Team India defeated the mighty England in the final match of the series to lift the Trophy.
The 2002 NatWest series was played between 3 nations, India, Sri Lanka and the hosts England. It was a iconic series win for the Indian team. At that time, England and Sri Lanka were one of the top teams in the world, while a young brute of Indian players were lead by one of the greatest Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.
After each teams playing a total of 6 matches each in the group stage, Team India and England qualified for the final of the series. The final match was played at the Lords cricket ground on 13th July, 2002.
Team India fielded a strong but young playing XI with Sachin Tendulkar being the most experienced player. Batting first, England scored 325 runs and India managed to chase it down on the last over with 2 wickets remaining. While it was a great work by the youngsters, chasing a mammoth target of 326 made it even more special.
Today in this article, we take a look at the Playing XI from that final match and what they are upto now.
Openers: Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly
While chasing a target of 326 runs, it was important for the Indian team to get a good start, thus captain Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag opened the inning for India. Both added a 106 runs partnership as Sehwag scored 45 runs from 49 balls while Ganguly scored 60 runs from 43 balls. Currently Sehwag is working a commentator for broadcasting channels while Sourav Ganguly is the current BCCI President.
Middle-Order: Dinesh Mongia, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid
Team India middle-order in that match completely failed to score big runs. After being on 106 runs for 1 wicket loss, they were suddenly down to 5 wickets for 146 runs. Mongia scored 9, Sachin scored 14 while Dravid could only add 5 runs.
As for where they are right now, Mongia has retired from International cricket way back and is in politics with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sachin Tendulkar is currently enjoying his life after a long career and has been seen commentating a several of time. As for Rahul Dravid, he is the current head coach of the Indian team in 2022.
All-Rounders: Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif
Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif played the most crucial inning for Team India in the match. While 5 wickets down at 146 runs, both Yuvraj Singh and Kaif added a partnership of 121 runs before the former was dismissed by Paul Collingwood while the latter saw India through the victory line with his brilliant 87 runs not out inning.
As for Yuvraj Singh, he is currently enjoying his retirement after a glorious career that saw him battle through the cancer. He is also seen several times playing in the charity matches with other legendary cricketers. As for Mohammad Kaif, he is currently commentating in India’s matches as well as in the IPL and has worked as mentor for IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Bowlers: Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra
Except for Zaheer Khan, none of the Indian bowler had a great outing with the ball. Zaheer took 3 wickets but still gave away 62 runs while Kumble and Ashish Nehra managed 1 wicket each however gave away 54 and 66 runs respectively. As for their contribution with the bat, Harbhajan and Kumble added 15 and 0 runs respectively while Zaheer Khan saw the match through with Mohammad Kaif.
Harbhajan Singh is currently a Member of Parliament in Punjab Rajya Sabha played in the IPL for KKR in 2021, however didn’t make any appearance. As for his spin partner Anil Kumble, he is currently working as the head coach and Director of Cricket for IPL franchise Punjab Kings.
Zaheer Khan meanwhile is currently working as a coach for the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians and has even served as a bowling consultant for the Indian team. As for Ashish Nehra, he most recently won the IPL Trophy with the Gujarat Titans as the head coach of the team in IPL 2022.