"He himself was telling me to play smartly & now he is out" - Mohammad Kaif shares hilarious story from India's epic NatWest final
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif recently recalled crucial moments from India's historic win in the 2022 NatWest final against England at Lord's. Chasing a mammoth target of 326, India were in a precarious situation at 146/5.
However, Kaif and Yuvraj Singh stitched up an incredible partnership to help India to a famous win. Mohammad Kaif's 87* is still regarded as one of the best ODI knocks played by an Indian under pressure. However, the 41-year-old also hailed off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for his crucial cameo in their partnership of 47 runs.
Speaking to Harbhajan on Sportskeeda's YouTube channel on the 20th anniversary of the win, Mohammad Kaif recalled a chat that the off-spinner had with him in the middle during a crucial stage of the chase. He said:
"I remember we had a crucial partnership of 47 runs. During that partnership, I hit a ball off Collingwood that almost carried to third man and we took a single. Then you came to me and said, 'Kaif, what are you doing? Look at the scoreboard. It is almost a run-a-ball. Play smart.' This really calmed me down and I kept the scoreboard ticking by picking up singles and an odd boundary."
Kaif then burst into laughter as he reminded Harbhajan of how the latter himself got dismissed despite telling him to play smart. He said:
"But what did you do? You told me to play smart and then yourself hit a one-handed six! (Laughs). Then you tried to back away and hit a boundary and you got clean bowled. So I said to myself, 'Wow, he himself was telling me to play smartly and now he is out.'"
years of a special win! 
2⃣0⃣ years of a special win! 👏 👏
🗓️ #OnThisDay in 2002, #TeamIndia - led by @SGanguly99 - beat England at Lord's to win the NatWest Series. 🏆 👍 https://t.co/PabjeMeTFq
Harbhajan Singh on Mohammad Kaif's epic knock
Harbhajan Singh then recounted how he was in awe of Mohammad Kaif's knock before revealing his favorite shot from Kaif's Man-of-the-Match-winning performance. The off-spinner also spoke about how important that win was in making the Men in Blue believe that they can win from improbable situations. He stated:
"That was an incredible innings (from you). I still remember one short arm pull that you hit off Tudor's bowling. Tudor was bowling at a decent pace those days and the ball wasn't that short either. Still you managed to hit that over mid wicket for a boundary. That game gave us the belief that we could win the match from any position and in any situation. That win changed the face of Indian cricket."
20 years on, that epic win at Lord's still continues to remain fresh in the memory of every ardent Indian fan.