2002 Natwest final changed my life forever – Mohammad Kaif

India’s former batsman Mohammad Kaif is well remembered for his heroics in the Natwest Trophy final in 2002 against England. Kaif recalled the famous day of his life, 13 July 2002, which changed his life forever. The right-hander scored an unbeaten knock of 87 runs off just 75 balls in the final and stitched a fine alliance with Yuvraj Singh.

India was in a pickle when they lost five wickets for 146 runs, while chasing an imposing target of 326 runs. However, two rookie batsmen in Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh combined together to add 121 runs for the sixth wicket to get back India into the contest.

Yuvraj took the attack to the opposition and helped Kaif take his time in the initial phase. Both the batters were at their best and created history for the Indian team as they won by two wickets.

Consequently, Kaif thought it was fitting to announce his retirement on 13 July and did the same back in 2018.

“July 13 will always be close to my heart. It changed my life. I wanted to make that day memorable, so I announced my retirement on July 13, 2018. It will always remain a special day for me…,” Mohammad Kaif told Sportstar.

In fact, India was known to make it to the final of the big events at that stage but they would flounder in the final match. It was almost the case in the Natwest final when Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed by Ashley Giles and it was thought that this would be it for the Indian team. However, Kaif and Yuvraj had other plans and they were able to turn the tide in the favour of the tourists.

Kaif, who was still green in his career, admitted it was a new situation for him as he had never batted in a tense final like that. Furthermore, it was the top stage but he was able to handle the pressure and got India over the line.

“It was a completely new situation for me. I hadn’t faced something like that before, where you were playing a crucial final. Back then, there was a trend that India would qualify for the final but would eventually miss out on the title. It appeared that we were the best team till the final, but somehow things would go incredibly wrong in the last hurdle, so we were desperate to break the jinx”.

It was a big moment not only for Mohammad Kaif but also for Indian cricket as the team was finally able to cross the last hurdle. Kaif went on to score 2753 runs in 125 ODI matches at an average of 32.01.