#OTD 2002 | India's historic win over England as Ganguly's celebration leaves a mark

It's been two decades to the day since the Lord's stood witness to what was one of the Greatest One Day Internationals ever played. Team India, under the dynamic leadership of Sourav Ganguly, pulled off one of the most extraordinary chases in the game's history. 

What was as historic as the run chase was how skipper Ganguly celebrated the victory from the Lord's balcony by taking off his jersey and waving it fiercely, giving the game and Indian cricket one of its most iconic moments on the field.

Team India, in their pursuit of chasing a mammoth total of 325 to win the final fixture and the series, lost their key players in the early part of the innings. 

However, the youngsters on the side stepped up to the task of shepherding India's chase. The skipper of the Under-19 winning Indian side in 2000, Mohammed Kaif, along with his U19 teammate Yuvraj Singh stitched together one of the most crucial partnerships which helped India climb back into the contest and go on to win the match. 

The coin came down in the hosts' favour at the toss. The then England skipper Nasser Hussain decided to bat first on what looked like a good batting surface. 

The England innings got off to a great start as opening batter Marcus Trescothick, who was in great form throughout the series, smashed an outstanding century scoring 109. 

Nasser Hussain also notched up a hundred, scoring 115 off 128 balls. With a quickfire cameo from all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (40 off 32 balls), England made 325/5 at the end of their 50 overs.

The Indian team emphatically started the chase as their openers Virender Sehwag and skipper Ganguly helped India race to 106 in just 14.3 overs. 

However, post the departure of Sehwag and Ganguly, the visitors had a batting collapse as India went from being 106 for 0 to 146-5 within the span of just ten overs. 

The openers were dismissed in quick succession as skipper Ganguly fell for a 43-ball 60 off Alex Tudor. That was followed by Ashley Giles getting rid of Sehwag in the next over, who missed the half-century by just five runs scoring 45 off 49 deliveries. 

Then the middle order didn't get much time to settle as Dinesh Mongia, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were dismissed for just 9, 14 and 5 runs in a mammoth run chase.

The stage was set for the youngsters to join forces and dig team India out of their hole. Kaif and Yuvraj added 121 for the sixth wicket before Paul Collingwood brought the hosts back into the game by removing Yuvraj in the forty-second over. 

Yuvraj scored 69 runs off 63 balls while Kaif made an unbeaten 87 runs off 75 balls, ensuring that India chased the target without any further hiccups. Then, with Zaheer Khan tapping the ball to the offside and completing a double, India scripted history by claiming the title. 

Kaif, who played the innings of his life, was awarded Player of the Match. India won the match by two wickets and three balls to spare. England's Marcus Trescothick received the player of the series for his exploits with the bat as he scored a total of 362 runs.