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The 2001 Eden Gardens Test match in many ways is a landmark for Indian cricket. It was at this juncture that India asserted themselves both in spirit and in cricketing skills. In Sourav Ganguly’s own words, “that Test match changed the whole psyche of Indian cricket”. One thing is for sure: the foundation for Team India – a term coined to describe the cohesive resilient unit that Indian cricket team was to become later on – was laid at this remarkable stadium and in that historic match.
Team India has a new found verve about it, not very dissimilar to the one Ganguly’s men had in the 2002 version of the same tournament. As India get ready to face the Sri Lankans tomorrow, let’s relive another semi final from the 2002 edition of the Champions Trophy that confirmed the arrival of ‘Team India’. On its course to the semi finals, the Indian team under Sourav Ganguly had thrashed Zimbabwe and England emphatically, with the win over England coming with a margin of 10 wickets.
Ganguly was handed over the reins of a new-look, young team about a year and a half before this match. In hindsight, he was the gallant captain India required at that stage. For too long, India had been a decent, ‘soft’ cricketing nation. It had clinched a World Cup and won some other prestigious trophies along the way but never really strolled like a serious threat. Throughout the 90s, getting Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket won you half the match. There were excellent individuals like Azhar and Jadeja but India couldn’t evolve into a team that others would like to beat.
Sourav Ganguly changed all that. He came from an opulent family in Kolkata (they call him ‘the Prince of Kolkata’) and seemed to carry a certain brashness with him. Indian teams often were guilty of being too soft in cricketing attitude and Sourav was just the man who could catapult India out of such mediocrity. The best thing was that he did it all by example. He found it convenient to irritate Steve Waugh, making him wait for the toss. Getting involved in a banter with the opposition players didn’t bother him at all. Although these were traits very different from the ones usually seen in Indian cricketers, they laid a strong foundation for the formidable team that India was to become later.
So here was India, in Colombo, facing South Africa in the semi-final of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. Sehwag and Ganguly got the team off to a rocking start, scoring 42 in 5.4 overs before Ganguly departed. The fiery pace attack of Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald and Makhaya Ntini was soon at India’s neck with the scorecard reading 135/4 in 25.2 overs. It seemed it would be a familiar downfall story of the past before two of India’s greatest decided to reply resolutely. Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh set about building up the innings with a valuable 72 run partnership. It was an impressive sign of things to come ahead. India ended up with 261 runs on the board with half centuries from Sehwag and Yuvraj. It was a decent score but the tail ought to have hit a few more. Despite that, the total seemed a fair one to fight for in a semifinal.
Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis though had other ideas. India bagged a wicket as early as the 3rd over but after that it was all bright for South Africa. Both sucked the venom out of the Indian bowling attack and the match soon seemed a formality that would end in a South African win. What the Indian team did then, however, is unforgettable.
Herschelle Gibbs retired hurt (116*) at the end of 37th over with South Africa needing a gettable 70 runs from 13 overs. Even more remarkable was the fact that 8 wickets and some reputed batsmen were still in bank. The target should have been a cakewalk. Instead, the rest of the match turned upside down. The 38th over bowled by Harbhajan yielded 2 wickets. Of the two, one was that of Jonty Rhodes, who was snapped by a splendid Jontyesque catch from Yuvraj Singh. It was an unbelievable catch and an Indian doing it – which was a rarity in those days – surprised many. Despite Kallis fighting on till the end, the match went to the Indian team. Or at this point, it sounds fitting to say ‘the match went to the Team India’. Sanjay Manjrekar, on air, noticed how this young Team India had developed a hitherto unseen never-say-die attitude. The icing on the cake was the sight of spectacular superhuman catches by Yuvraj to dismiss Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher. Team India finally went on to jointly share the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 with Sri Lanka.
Undoubtedly and gallantly, a victory had been snatched out of the jaws of defeat. The Natwest trophy final win against England further strengthened and justified the sobriquet ‘Team India’. In ODIs, however, if there ever was a turning point, it was this match against the South Africans. Truly, since then, Team India has never looked back.
