A year after India’s historic win at the Natwest Series in England in 2002, they battled against the odds to reach the finals of the World Cup in 2003 in South Africa. They ended up losing to Australia in the final, but Sourav Ganguly’s warriors will always be remembered for their heroics in the tournament.
Out of the 15 member squad, there are only four who are currently active on the international circuit. In this article, we take a look at what the members of the 2003 World Cup are currently doing.
# 1 Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar, who is widely regarded as the God of cricket was the man of the tournament of the 2003 World Cup. Apart from the final against Australia, Sachin performed well with the bat in all almost every match and took India to a victory on multiple occasions. He was the top run-getter in the tournament as he amassed 673 runs in 11 innings at an average of 61.18 with 6 half-centuries and one century to his name.
After the 2003 World Cup, Sachin continued to be India’s go-to batsman in all formats and broke the record of scoring the maximum number of runs in Tests and ODIs. He also became the first batsman to score 100 centuries in international cricket. He ended up as the 2nd highest run-scorer in the 2011 World Cup as well where India were victorious. He is currently the mentor of the Mumbai Indians side in the IPL.
#2 Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag was far from his ferocious best in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. Prior to the tournament, he was tried out at different batting positions and he finally cemented his position as an opener in 2002. His performances were below par in the World Cup as he ended up with only 299 runs in 11 matches at an average of 27.18
It was only after the 2003 World Cup where we got a glimpse of the real Sehwag. He became an integral part of the Indian squad right until the 2011 World Cup and formed the best ever partnership with Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the order. To date, he is the only Indian to have scored two triple centuries in Tests. He is currently extremely active on Twitter and was appointed as the head of cricket operations and strategy for the Kings XI Punjab side in the IPL.
#3 Sourav Ganguly
Dada, as he was fondly known went on to become one of the greatest captains India ever had, before Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over. Before coming into the World Cup, he had a couple of very famous wins under his belt which included the 2002 Natwest Series win and the historic series win against Australia in 2001. He performed really well in the tournament as he ended up with 478 runs in his bag at an average of 58.12.
He continued to lead India till 2005 after which Rahul Dravid took over the side till the 2007 World Cup. After his retirement in 2008, Ganguly played in the IPL for a couple of years, took up roles in cricket administration, and even bought a football team in the Indian Super League (Atletico De Kolkata). He is currently the honourable President of the Cricket Association of Bengal.
#4 Mohammed Kaif
One of the best fielders India has ever had, Kaif, who was a youngster back then, was going through a purple patch of form. He had performed well in the tournaments prior to the World Cup but failed to find his touch in the tournament as he managed only 182 runs in 11 matches at an average of 20.
Kaif did not have a long career with the Men in Blue as his inconsistent performances led to him being dropped from the side shortly after the World Cup. He continues to play cricket to date and is the captain of the Chattisgarh state team.
#5 Rahul Dravid
The wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid has been one of the greatest batsmen to have ever worn the jersey for the Indian cricket team. Despite constantly being in the shadow of his counterpart and teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid ended up with over 10000 runs in Tests. He performed decently well in the World Cup back in 2003 as he ended up 318 runs in 10 innings at an average of 62.
Dravid did not achieve as much success in ODIs as he did in Tests. He hardly featured for the Men in Blue after the disastrous World Cup campaign of 2007 but continued to be India’s go-to batsman in the longer format of the game. He is currently the head coach of the Indian U-19 side and India A side as well. Under his guidance, the Indian U-19 side reached the final of the 2016 World Cup.
#6 Yuvraj Singh
Out of the15 members who were included in the squad for the World Cup 14 years ago, Yuvraj is the only one who is still currently active on duty with the ODI side of the Indian cricket team. He has established himself as one of the greatest ever limited over cricketers for the Indian side. He notched up 240 runs in 10 innings at an average of 34.28 with two half-centuries to his name.
Since the 2003 World Cup, he played an integral role in the World T20 success of 2007 and was the man of the tournament in India’s World Cup success of 2011. After sitting out of the ODI squad since 2013, he was included in the recently concluded ODI series against England where he ended up as the third highest run-getter of the tournament with 210 runs to his name, which included a career-best knock of 150 in the 2nd ODI at Cuttack.
#7 Dinesh Mongia
Dinesh Mongia was included in the squad for the 2003 World Cup after having an amazing year for the Men in Blue a year prior to the World Cup. However, he failed to perform well in the tournament as he managed only 120 runs in 6 innings at an average of 20 and picked up 5 wickets as well.
Inconsistent performances led to him being dropped from the Indian side shortly after the World Cup and he hardly featured for India since then. He played his last ODI in 2007 against Bangladesh after which he played in the rebel Indian Cricket League which is now defunct where he was accused of match fixing. He also played for the Lashings World XI side. He is currently coaching a school team in Chandigarh and also acted in a movie called Kabab Mein Haddi where he played a parody of Amitabh Bachchan.
#8 Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh is one of the four cricketers out of the 15 on this list who is still active on the international circuit. Over the years, he has been one of the greatest off-spinners to have played for India and ended up with 417 Test wickets which is the 2nd highest for an off-spinner till date. He bagged 11 wickets in 9 matches in the 2003 World Cup at an average of 30.45. He was the only Indian bowler who picked up a wicket in the final against Australia.
He played an integral role in India’s success over the years, especially in the 2007 and 2011 World Cup wins. With the emergence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Bhajji has lost his place in the side and has not featured in an ODI or a Test for almost two years now. He continues to play an important role for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
#9 Zaheer Khan
One of the best fast bowlers India has produced, Zaheer Khan led the Indian pace attack and carried the burden on his shoulders for a long time. He was phenomenal in the 2003 World Cup as he ended up as the leading wicket-taker for the Indian side and the 4th highest overall.
He continued to lead the pace attack for the Indian side right until the 2011 World Cup where he ended up as the joint highest wicket-taker along with Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi. He was plagued with injuries towards the end of his career, which eventually led to him giving way to the likes of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. He announced his retirement from cricket in 2015 and is currently enjoying his life outside cricket.
#10 Javagal Srinath
Before Zaheer Khan came to the fore, Javagal Srinath was leading the pace attack for the Indian side for many years. He formed a formidable partnership with Venkatesh Prasad at the beginning of his career, and with Zaheer later on. He will go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers produced by India who bowled at an average speed of above 140 kmph. He was the 2nd highest wicket taker for the Men in Blue in the 2003 World Cup with 16 wickets to his name in 11 matches.
After his retirement from the sport in 2003, Srinath played for the Lashings World XI in 2005. He took up commentary as well and is currently a reputed commentator. He was the former secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association and is currently an ICC match referee.
#11 Ashish Nehra
One of the biggest fighters, Ashish Nehra has constantly proved that age is no bar. Along with Yuvraj, Parthiv Patel and Harbhajan, he is currently active on the international circuit and plays a lot of T20 matches for the Men in Blue. He formed a fearsome partnership along with Zaheer Khan throughout his career and took India to numerous victories. He ended up as the 3rd highest wicket taker for India in the 2003 World Cup with 15 wickets to his name in 9 matches.
Over the past 14 years, Nehra has been in and out of the side, but at the age of 37 is part of the T20 side which is taking on England in a 3 match T20I series which began on 26th January. He played an important role in India’ success at the World T20 last year.
#12 Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble has undoubtedly been India’s most successful spin bowler till date. He ended up with 619 wickets to his name which is third highest behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne. He would have found himself extremely unlucky to have only played three matches in the entire tournament in 2003 where he bagged 5 wickets.
He led the Indian bowling attack for many years after the World Cup and also led the Indian test side for a year from 2007 to 2008. After his retirement in 2008, he played in the Indian Premier League for the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a few years. After his retirement from the IPL, he took up roles as the chief mentor of RCB and Mumbai Indians between 2012 and 2015. He is currently the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
#13 Ajit Agarkar
Despite achieving a lot of success with the Men in Blue prior to the World Cup, Ajit Agarkar did not play in a single game throughout the tournament. He has the rare distinction of having his name on the Lords honour board when he scored a magnificent century against England at Lords in 2002.
He was an effective ODI bowler post the 2003 World Cup but was dropped from the side after India’s poor campaign in the 2007 World Cup. After his retirement, Agarkar played a lot of golf and even won a corporate tournament in 2016 in New Delhi.
#14 Parthiv Patel
17-year-old Parthiv Patel was included in the squad as a specialist wicket-keeper but did not get a game under his belt as Rahul Dravid stood behind the stumps for the entire duration of the tournament. He made history when he became India’s youngest debutant in 2002 against England at Trent Bridge.
He did not enjoy too much success with the Indian side, due to which he was replaced by MS Dhoni in 2004, and the rest is history.
Parthiv Patel made a comeback to the Indian Test side against England in November after Wriddhiman Saha injured himself. As captain of the Gujarat state team, he won the Ranji Trophy this year.
#15 Sanjay Bangar
Sanjay Bangar was the third player along with Agarkar and Parthiv who did not play a single game throughout the tournament. He will always be remembered for his performance in India’s famous victory against England at Headingley in 2002.
He announced his retirement from all forms of the game in 2013 and took up the role of the batting coach with the Indian cricket team in August 2014.
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