On this day, 23 years ago, New Zealand beat Team India by 4 wickets in the final of the Knockout Trophy. Notably, Team India suffered a historic loss against the Black Caps on October 15, 2000. Speaking about the game here, it was New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming who won the toss and invited the Men in Blue to bat first during the game.
Notably, after being sent to bat first, Team India had a stellar start as their skipper Sourav Ganguly struck out a great century while Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar also hammered half a century in the game. Great batter Sourav Ganguly played a scintillating knock of 117 runs from just 130 balls, featuring nine boundaries and four sixes, while legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar hammered 69 runs from 83 balls that boosted the top order.
However, following their opening pair’s dismissal, Team India could not contribute much to the team’s score. The legendary batter Rahul Dravid could only pile up 22 runs, whereas star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh scored just 18 runs. In addition, middle-order batter Vinod Kambli was dismissed for just one run. Later, in the end, Robin Singh and Ajit Agarkar remained unbeaten, which guided Sourav Ganguly-led Team India to post 264/6 in the given 50 overs.
New Zealand were off to a horrible start
However, while chasing, the Black Caps had an awful start as their great openers, Craig Spearman and Nathan Astle, could only manage 3 and 37 runs, respectively. Following them, skipper Flemming also got out for just five runs. Meanwhile, the magic moment came in the middle order as great all-rounder Chris Cairns hammered 102 runs from just 113 balls, featuring eight boundaries and two sixes.
Meanwhile, lower-order batter Chris Harris also scored 46 runs and stitched a great partnership with Chris Cairns that guided their side to chase down the total with two balls to spare against Team India. Notably, star batter Chris Cairns received the Player of the Match Award for his great knock in the final game.