Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif shared a moment of the famous 2002 NatWest Series final where the opposition England skipper Nasser Hussain called him a ‘bus driver’. Giving an answer to a question that was asked by a fan in the Twitter, Mohammad Kaif recalled that moment and revealed the unknown things.
Recently, a fan had asked Mohammad Kaif on Twitter, “@MohammadKaif Hi kaif, what you and Yuvi were talking during Natwest Final? Was their any sledging from English players ?#AskKaif.”
@MohammadKaif Hi kaif, what you and Yuvi were talking during Natwest Final ? Was their any sledging from English players ?#AskKaif
— Vaibhav Yelegaonkar (@catchvaibhav81) February 27, 2018
In reply, Kaif posted on his official Twitter account, “Yes, Nasser Hussain actually called me a Bus driver 🙂 was good to take them for a ride !”
Yes, Nasser Hussain actually called me a Bus driver 🙂 was good to take them for a ride ! https://t.co/wUeeUnowdN
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) February 27, 2018
It was a memorable and thrilling match for the Indian cricket fans where Mohammad Kaif was the hero of the match. It was the final match of a tri-series where Sri Lanka was the other participant team but failed to qualify for the final.
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The final match was played at Lord’s between England and India. England skipper Nasser Hussain won the toss and decided to bat first. After their opener Nick Knight was dismissed early, another opener Marcus Trescothick and the skipper Nasser Hussain recovered the team’s innings well. Both were able to make centuries as Trescothick scored 109 runs while Hussain scored 115 runs. Andrew Flintoff also played an important 40 runs knock as England posted a mammoth total of 325/5 at the end of 50 overs.
It was the time when 300+ target chases were rarest in ODI cricket. However, India had a very good opening start as Virender Sehwag and Indian captain Sourav Ganguly put a superb attacking 106 runs partnership for the first wicket. But once Sourav was dismissed for 60 runs, India suffered a huge batting collapse as Sehwag soon departed on 45 runs.
Dinesh Mongia (9), Sachin Tendulkar (14) and Rahul Dravid (5) followed the pavilion cheaply. From 106/0, India went down to 146/5 inside the 10 overs horrible spell.
After then, two young Indian cricketers did something extraordinary which is never forgettable for the Indian fans. Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, the two important members of India’s first time ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup winning squad in 2000, played exceptional innings and provided an unimaginable victory for India.
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Both of them put 121 runs partnership for the sixth wicket which turned out the game. While Yuvraj was dismissed for 69 runs, Kaif carried on that innings till the victory.
Mohammad Kaif, who was the captain of India’s U-19 WC winning team in 2000, scored superb unbeaten 87 runs and secured the victory. India won that match by 2 wickets with 3 balls to spare and clinched the famous NatWest series.
Kaif was elected for the Player of the Match award.
