Sourav Ganguly inaugurates Lord's-like Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata
Ganguly's witnessed arguably the best moment in his captaincy history as India defeated England in the NatWest tri-series final in 2002.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has inaugurated a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata that is based on the theme of the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground in London. It is a venue where Ganguly witnessed arguably the best moment in his captaincy history as India successfully chased down 326 runs against England on July 13, 2002 in the Natwest series and Ganguly took off his t-shirt in the Lord's balcony.
Meanwhile, the pandal, named Garia's Durga Puja pandal, will be inaugurated by Ganguly himself. It is to be noted that that Puja pandal at this venue is one of the most unique Puja pandals in the 'City of Joy' Kolkata.
Coming back to India's famous victory, the team had almost conceded the Natwest tri-series final to Nasser Hussain-led England. Batting first, the hosts had made the most of the opportunities as centuries from opener Marcus Trescothick (109) and Hussain (115) powered them to a mammoth score of 325/5. India's frontline bowlers had a day to forget as they all conceded in excess of 50 runs.
However, the Men in Blue were in no mood to go down without a fight as Ganguly (60) and Virender Sehwag (45) laid a solid foundation with a 106-run opening stand. However, their wickets opened the gates for England and when the scorecard read 146/5 in the 24th over, a defeat looked pretty much on the cards for India.
It was then that the middle-order duo of Yuvraj Singh (69) and Mohammad Kaif (87*) came to the rescue and bailed the Indian team out of trouble with a 221-run sixth wicket stand. While the wickets of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble put the visitors on the backfoot, Kaif took care of the run-scoring in the death overs as Zaheer Khan hit the winning runs.
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