Courtesy: BCCI/ICC
In the early 2000s, the ICC Knockout Trophy was rebranded as Champions Trophy, and the third edition of the tournament was played in Sri Lanka with 12 teams involved. The Sourav Ganguly-led Indian cricket team, who lost the final of the previous edition of the tournament two years prior to New Zealand, arrived at the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 in Sri Lanka quite high on confidence with improved results in the ODI format during the time. The Men in Blue were placed in Pool B alongside Zimbabwe and England with only the top finisher set to make the semi-finals.
The first match of the Champions Trophy for India happened on September 14, 2002, against Zimbabwe at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, and it turned out to be quite a close contest. With the help of an exceptional hundred from Mohammad Kaif and a fifty from Rahul Dravid, India posted a very competitive total of 288/6. In the run chase, Andy Flower scored a fantastic 145 off 164 balls, but his innings wasn’t enough for Zimbabwe as they fell short of the target by 14 runs, and as far as Indian bowling is concerned, Zaheer Khan picked up four wickets.
In their second and final Pool B match, India took on England, who posted a decent score of 269/7 on the board, thanks mainly to a fiery innings of 82 runs in just 68 balls from Ian Blackwell. Later on, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag made a mockery out of the 270-run target with hundreds scored at better than a run-a-ball, to help India chase down the runs in just 39.3 overs, to book their spot in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2002.
India reached semi-finals of ICC Champions Trophy 2002 after defeating England and Zimbabwe
The Men in Blue played their semi-final of the tournament at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, their third game in a row in familiar conditions, and thanks to the impressive fifties from Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, they posted a respectable score of 261/9 to defend against South Africa. In the run chase, South Africa were in cruise control at one stage with Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis sharing a 178-run stand for the second wicket before the former retired hurt due to cramps.
Herschelle Gibbs left the crease after scoring 116 runs in 119 balls, and it led to a plethora of wickets falling in quick succession in the South African innings, which brought India back into the contest. The Proteas needed 21 runs in the last over, but they could only score 10 runs while losing two wickets to Virender Sehwag, which meant that India reached the final of the Champions Trophy with a 10-run win.
Virender Sehwag was the top-scorer for India in ICC Champions Trophy 2002
The final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 saw India take on hosts Sri Lanka, but after the game was washed out twice in two days, including the reserve day, the coveted title was shared, and it meant that the Men in Blue won their first ICC trophy in the 21st century. The player of the tournament award wasn’t given to any player due to the final not getting a logical conclusion, but Virender Sehwag was the top-scorer of the Champions Trophy with 271 runs, while Muthiah Muralidaran took 10 wickets, the most among all the players.
