The 2002 Natwest Trophy final is still remembered by cricket fans as the day youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif announced to the world that Indian cricket had match-winners beyond the Fab Four who could deliver on the biggest stage.
Recently, former England skipper Nasser Hussain recalled during a Sky Sports podcast how he had to eat his words used to sledge Kaif when the batsman walked in to bat at Lord’s in that match.
Also Read: Kaif and Yuvraj’s chase, Ganguly’s shirt twirl in the 2002 Natwest Trophy final
“It’s the greatest innings that lad (Kaif) played, he will be remembered for that. I saw a picture of him the other day with Yuvraj, picture of Lord’s in the background, and he’s tweeted ‘Great Memories’,” said Hussain.
“The memory was for that day and that game. I remember actually him coming in, and there was a bit of a sledge. We’d got the Fab Five out and someone was saying: ‘Alright - Who’s this then, Skip?’ And I was like: ‘I think he must drive the bus. I think he drives Tendulkar around on the bus. I might have made up the ending for an after-dinner speech but, when he hit the winning runs ‘not bad for a bus driver’ sort of line. He gave me that sort of look.”
Just like the final in question – where Kaif’s innings trumped Hussain’s century – the former India batsman has the last word once again with a brilliant response: “Thanks to that innings, the bus driver drives a convertible now.”
Hussain also explained in the podcast why he felt that the innings from Kaif and Yuvraj was so important for Indian cricket.
“It’s probably in India, one of the top-5 most talked about cricket matches, and in a nice sort of way because it was done by those two. If it had just been Sehwag and Tendulkar again, it would have been like, ‘okay they have done it’. But to be outdone by two relatively unknown young lads I think was a great boost to Indian cricket,” he said.