Cricket’s greatest comebacks – India vs South Africa, 2002 Champions Trophy

The moment that changed the game

South Africa were still the favourites to win, but it was almost as if the other batsmen took it as a signal to fall apart. Two runs later, Jonty Rhodes was brilliantly caught by Yuvraj off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh.

Boeta Dippenaar swept Harbhajan straight to Anil Kumble at fine leg, and the usually reliable Mark Boucher also perished soon, top-edging an attempted sweep off Sehwag to give Yuvraj an easy catch. The sweep shot, which was usually the Proteas’ most productive shot against spin, proved to be the reason for their downfall.

Lance Klusener came out to bat, and with Shaun Pollock and Robin Peterson yet to bat, the South Africans knew that a victory was very much within their reach. But with his flat, quick and tight off-spin, Sehwag tied down the scoring rate and some tidy bowling from Kumble meant that 25 runs were required from the last 2 overs. Zaheer bowled a tight penultimate over conceding just 4 runs.

With 21 required from the final over, Kallis hit Sehwag’s first delivery for a six. He tried to repeat the same shot on the next ball, but only managed to top-edge it, and the ball was safely grabbed by wicket-keeper Dravid.

Klusener, who had crossed over during Kallis’s dismissal, looked a pale shadow of the hero who almost won the 1999 World Cup for South Africa. He was unable to cleanly hit the ball, and only managed four more runs in the run, before hitting straight to Mohammed Kaif off the last ball of the innings, handing India a famous 10-run victory.

The South Africans lived up to their dubious reputation of being champions at choking, while the Indian team’s performance in fighting back after being down-and-out was a refreshing change for their fans.

One could spare a thought for Gibbs, who had famously dropped Steve Waugh in the 1999 World Cup and got told, “You’ve just dropped the World Cup, mate”, had once again given an opening to the opposition, though this time due to retirement because of cramps when the team looked set to cruise to a win.

But the day belonged to Virender Sehwag, who followed up on his heroics with the bat against England with a brilliant all-round performance.

Virender Sehwag starred for India

A blistering knock of 59 set the base for the Indian innings, and a fine spell of off-spin bowling, with figures of 3 for 25, helped the team come back into the contest when the match seemed to be getting out of their grip.

It was a red-letter day for Indian cricket as they scripted one of the greatest comebacks in the history of ODI cricket.