ICC Champions Trophy: 10 greatest encounters in the history of the tournament, Part 1

#8 India vs South Africa: Colombo (RPS), 2002

India clinched victory from the jaws of defeat

Sourav Ganguly elected to bat in India’s third consecutive semi-final in as many Champions Trophy occurrences and Virender Sehwag did justice to that decision with a fitting 59 which included ten boundaries. But India’s other batsmen fell cheaply until a stable recovery by the dependable Rahul Dravid, who joined hands with a young Yuvraj Singh in a steady stand of 72 for the fifth wicket, brought India back on track.

Yuvraj hammered the world class Allan Donald with masterful shots but skipper Shaun Pollock checked India’s flow by trapping Yuvraj for 72 late into the innings, and India ended on 261/9.

Yuvraj would later go on to make a mark on the field as well as he grabbed a stunning catch to remove Graeme Smith early, but Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis added 178 before Gibbs retired hurt to cramps after a sparkling 116.

Harbhajan Singh capitalised on that by dismissing Jonty Rhodes – caught brilliantly by Yuvraj again – and Boeta Dippenaar in the thirty-ninth over. Ganguly then introduced the part-time spin of Sehwag, who accounted for Mark Boucher in the forty-fourth over – slowing down the chase further. Kallis lacked support and South Africa eventually required 21 off 6. They managed only ten, losing Kallis and Lance Klusener, as Sehwag finished with 3/25 and took home the Man of the Match award.