SK Flashback : World Cup 2003 Final - A thorn in the heart of Indian cricket fans

2003 World Cup Final Saching Tendulkar
There was no fairytale ending for the India

The ten ball opening over

Zaheer Khan 2003 World Cup.png
Zaheer Khan lost his cool in the opening over of the game

Coming back to the match, Ganguly won the toss and asked the Australians to bat first; a decision which was criticised by many later on. The ball was in the hands of Zaheer Khan, who with 18 wickets and an economy rate of 4.23 had been India’s best bowler in the tournament so far.

He began with a no-ball but followed it up with a good next ball which Adam Gilchrist missed. Zaheer ensured that he gave a good stare to Gilchrist. After giving two runs off the next delivery which was also a no-ball, Zaheer got Gilchrist to edge one for a single through the vacant gully area.

That single brought Matthew Hayden on strike, who played and missed the next ball. A pumped up Zaheer gave some words of advice to Hayden on his follow through. And when Hayden defended the next ball, it looked to be a normal first over.

That’s when hell broke. Zaheer probably bowled one of the widest wides in the history of ODIs which ended up at the boundary. Taking advantage of the pressure on Zaheer, Hayden dispatched the next delivery to long-off boundary.

Zaheer bowled another wide before ending an over in which he bowled ten deliveries and conceded 15 runs.

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Edited by Staff Editor