Close India 326 for 8 (Kaif 87*, Yuvraj 69) beat England 325 for 5 (Hussain 115, Trescothick 109) by 2 wickets
scorecard

Nineteen years after winning the World Cup finals, India pulled off yet another remarkable victory at the same venue, when they chased 325 successfully to beat England by two wickets in the finals of the NatWest series at Lord's. At one point of time, India were 146 for 5 needing 180 runs to win in 26 overs. Then, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif came together and added 121 runs in 106 balls; Yuvraj was out with 59 still to win at more than a run-a-ball. But Mohammad scaled the mountain, as Kaif, unbeaten at the end on 87, brought up a win that surely marks a turning point in Indian cricket. A new generation has emerged, and the ghosts of the past have been laid to rest.

When Sachin Tendulkar was out in the 24th over, stepping back and exposing his stumps to Ashley Giles and being beaten by the flight and bowled for just 14, India needed almost seven an over to win, with the last recognised batsmen at the crease. Most Indians would have sighed in disppointment at an imminent tenth consecutive finals lost, but Yuvraj and Kaif representated a young generation which bore no baggage from times gone by, but had actually won a World Cup final together – the under-19 finals in 2000.

Rather than panic as India tend to do in such situations, Yuvraj and Kaif set about rebuilding the innings sensibly, milking the bowling with the field spread out, and building a partnership at close to a run-a-ball pace. Ashley Giles bowled a beautiful spell, keeping the batsmen quiet, giving nothing away, though Yuvraj gave a sign of things to come with a nonchalant hoick for six over midwicket off the last ball he bowled.

Having set the platform, Yuvraj and Kaif took off. Yuvraj smashed a wristy six over midwicket off Alex Tudor in the 37th over, and then took three consecutive fours off Andy Flintoff in the 38th. As the run-rate dipped closer to the elusive six-an-over mark, Kaif got into the act, playing a spectacular pull for six off Tudor in the 39th over, followed by a classical cover-drive all along the ground that bisected the fielders perfectly.

The next two overs saw them scampering singles while punishing the bad balls; Yuvraj hit front-foot pulls for four off Paul Collingwood and Ronnie Irani which presaged an easy win, before he miscued a hoick from Collingwood and Tudor caught the resulting skier.

Kaif, incredibly, kept his cool and shepharded the tailenders through to a stunning victory. Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble threw their wickets away in between, but Kaif rose to the biggest occasion of his short career so far, mixing magnificent – and non-slogged – fours with canny singles and twos, to take India to a victory that will surely inspire a generation of Indian cricketers to come, just as the '83 World Cup final did.

Earlier England, helped by centuries from Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain, rode a lot of luck to set India the daunting target of 326. The Indians bowled very badly at the start, and their early incompetence soon gave way to a horrid patch of bad luck. Marcus Trescothick was dropped thrice during his innings, though he was otherwise assured during his knock of 109. Hussain, on the other hand, made one of the scratchiest hundreds the game has seen – and his first one – playing and missing time and again, all his mishits going to air and falling in no man's land, his french-cuts and inside edges going past his stumps.

India, refreshingly, was neither diffident not desperate when they began, and Sourav Ganguly, both a big-hundred and a big-occasion player, was in imperious form. While he played some beautiful classical strokes during his stay at the crease, his most productive was the stepping-back smash through cover, which got him a number of boundaries off the pacers. Virender Sehwag was full of nerves, playing and missing at the beginning, but even he got into his element when Ronnie Irani came onto bowl, smacking him for four superb boundaries.

Ganguly's dismissal for 60 in the last ball of the 15th over – with the score on 106 – triggered off a flurry of wickets, as four fell in the space of 26 runs and a fifth – that of Tendulkar – shortly after. And then the unbelievable happened.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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