India began their 2003 World Cup campaign in shaky fashion with an unconvincing 68-run win over Netherlands at Paarl which was followed by an embarrassing nine-wicket defeat to Australia at Centurion. However, the Men in Blue rebounded well by defeating Zimbabwe by 83 runs at Harare before thrashing Namibia by 181 runs at Pietermaritzburg thanks to centuries from Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
However, India needed to win their next match in order to confirm their qualification to the Super Sixes. Up next was England whose 112-run win over Pakistan was their third consecutive win on the trot after forfeiting their tournament opener against Zimbabwe due to security reasons.
Both teams were on the brink of reaching the Super Sixes and a win would confirm their berth in the second stage of the competition. The India-England game would be Durban’s second match of the tournament after previously hosting Canada’s 60-run surprise win over Bangladesh.
On 26th February at Kingsmead, Durban Indian cricketing history beckoned.
While India made no changes in their playing XI, England made one change in their playing XI by replacing Ashley Giles with Ronnie Irani.
Tendulkar gives India a steady start
India began slowly in the first five overs but openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag picked up the pace quickly. During the 9th over, Sachin hooked a shortish delivery from Andy Caddick out of the ground and India’s run-rate was approaching six before Freddie Flintoff dismissed Sehwag for 23.
Sourav Ganguly then came on to the crease and he was batting slowly but Sachin Tendulkar batted steadily to his fifty. However, soon after reaching his 50, Tendulkar was dismissed by Flintoff after he played a length delivery towards point where Paul Collingwood took a simple catch.
Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh take India to 250
India’s run-rate lowered following Tendulkar’s dismissal as Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Mongia were being kept at bay by the English bowlers. Ganguly was later dismissed for 19 by Craig White and was replaced on the field by Rahul Dravid.
Dravid and Mongia added 47 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was dismissed for 32 by Paul Collingwood.
Yuvraj Singh then came in to join the Indian vice-captain on the field and he began to bat aggressively, striking a couple of beautiful shots with one of them going for a six. Dravid also began to gradually elevate his strike-rate. Jammy and Yuvi, as they are fondly known, added 63 runs from 60 deliveries for the fifth wicket and took India past 200.
Yuvraj was eventually dismissed for 42 after England skipper Nasser Hussain took a very agile catch at midwicket.
Dravid began to play aggressively during the penultimate over as he thrashed James Anderson for 16 runs to reach his fifty. In the final over, India lost a wicket in each of their final four deliveries as they finished their innings at 250/9 in 50 overs. Dravid ended his innings on 62 from 72 deliveries.
Ashish Nehra rips England’s batting apart
England needed to chase down 251 to win the match and Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight opened the innings for them. Disaster struck for England in only the second over as Nick Knight went on to take a needless run while Mohammad Kaif ran towards the stumps and made a direct hit to send Knight packing.
Zaheer Khan gave India their second breakthrough when he dismissed the dangerous Trescothick for 8. England skipper Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan were stitching up a partnership to try and give England some momentum. The duo added 34 runs for the third wicket before disaster struck. Ashish Nehra who had gone wicketless in the two matches that he played in the tournament broke the partnership by dismissing Hussain and then Alec Stewart in the very next delivery.
Michael Vaughan tried to keep England in the chase but Nehra dismissed him for 20, thus attaining his best ODI figures, bettering his previous spell of 3/30 against New Zealand at Colombo in 2001. Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff put up 31 for the sixth wicket before the 23-year old sent the former packing. The Delhi man picked up his maiden ODI five-wicket haul by dismissing Craig White and took a sixth by taking out Ronnie Irani and England were reeling at 107/8.
England had a faint glimmer of hope when Andrew Flintoff hit a couple of fours and sixes en route to his half-century but he was sent for his showers by Javagal Srinath after scoring 64. The Three Lions eventually wrapped up their innings at 168 and India were through to the Super Sixes.
Unsurprisingly, Nehra was adjudged the Man of the Match (his first in international cricket) for his spell of 6/23 which remains to be his career-best ODI figures. The left-armer’s spell was the joint-third best spell of the 2003 World Cup along with Shane Bond against Australia behind Andy Bichel and Glenn McGrath who took 7/15 and 7/20 against Namibia and England respectively.
It also remains to be the best figures by an Indian bowler at the ICC World Cup.
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