Revisiting 2003 WC final

[Trichromatic]

This was first WC which I watched closely. I had watched 1999 WC also, but I only had very few memories of those.

 

Ganguly won the toss and I bet 9 out of 10 captains would have opted to bat first.

 

“Sourav you’ve won the toss. What will you be doing?" boomed Michael Holding in his Jamaican accent.

Fans could barely hear “We’ll have a bowl" in the midst of the din, already having assumed that the result of winning the toss was a foregone conclusion. Wait, what did he just say?

“Why is that?" asked Holding, thrusting the microphone towards Ganguly.

“Because it’s, it’s a bit damp… Uhhh, it’s because of the rain in the morning. We’ll have a go at this first."

This was like turkeys voting for Christmas, so to speak. Was the earlier result playing on his mind?

“So, you’re hoping that your fast bowlers will get a bit of purchase on this surface and you’ll get a couple of early wickets?"

“I definitely think so if they can put the ball in the right place the way they’ve bowled…we’ll definitely get some purchase".

Why did he have to think? All he had to say was “Bat". One syllable. Was it so difficult to say?

“Ricky, would you have done anything different?" asked Holding of the Australian captain, who was barely able to conceal his delight.

“No, would’ve had a bat, actually. It’s always nice to bat in big games in finals; I think so we would’ve had a bat."

See! He was thinking straight. Why couldn’t Ganguly think more like him?

https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/4V5GYZgqJJioqFKXSfYFJI/2003-World-Cup-final-If-only-India-had-chosen-to-bat-first.html

[Trichromatic]

Video - https://www.icc-cricket.com/video/3702185

[Trichromatic]

Zaheer Khan started nervously and India had already given 7 wides in first 3 overs.

[Trichromatic]

Ponting had played very scratchy inning till 38th over. He scored his 50 in 73 balls. That could have very well been match losing knock.

 

Aus were 224 by 39th over. Stopping Aus at 305-310 might have given India a sniff at the total during chase.

[neel roy]

Go back to  indias group league match and see how mercilessly Aus thrashed india.. that played in his mind.. and  in the first match the pitch was damp as well.. india were 80/7.. gillespie 3/13.. and yes India had won the toss and elected to Bat..

[putrevus]

3 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

This was first WC which I watched closely. I had watched 1999 WC also, but I only had very few memories of those.

 

Ganguly won the toss and I bet 9 out of 10 captains would have opted to bat first.

 

“Sourav you’ve won the toss. What will you be doing?" boomed Michael Holding in his Jamaican accent.

Fans could barely hear “We’ll have a bowl" in the midst of the din, already having assumed that the result of winning the toss was a foregone conclusion. Wait, what did he just say?

“Why is that?" asked Holding, thrusting the microphone towards Ganguly.

“Because it’s, it’s a bit damp… Uhhh, it’s because of the rain in the morning. We’ll have a go at this first."

This was like turkeys voting for Christmas, so to speak. Was the earlier result playing on his mind?

“So, you’re hoping that your fast bowlers will get a bit of purchase on this surface and you’ll get a couple of early wickets?"

“I definitely think so if they can put the ball in the right place the way they’ve bowled…we’ll definitely get some purchase".

Why did he have to think? All he had to say was “Bat". One syllable. Was it so difficult to say?

“Ricky, would you have done anything different?" asked Holding of the Australian captain, who was barely able to conceal his delight.

“No, would’ve had a bat, actually. It’s always nice to bat in big games in finals; I think so we would’ve had a bat."

See! He was thinking straight. Why couldn’t Ganguly think more like him?

https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/4V5GYZgqJJioqFKXSfYFJI/2003-World-Cup-final-If-only-India-had-chosen-to-bat-first.html

Aussies always bat first, 

 

But on that day in 2003 Ganguly simply got scared, just like Rohit Sharma got scared to bat first against Australia in Oval finals.

 

Aussies like Cummins said yesterday would have batted first if they won the toss.They will bat first on Sunday if they win the toss.

 

That is why I laugh when Ganguly is touted as some daring captain.You need guts to do the hard yards as a captain.Ganguly got **** scared after chosing to bat and getting all out in first match for 126.

[R!TTER]

Delete this thread 

[putrevus]

1 minute ago, neel roy said:

Go back to  indias group league match and see how mercilessly Aus thrashed india.. that played in his mind.. and  in the first match the pitch was damp as well.. india were 80/7.. gillespie 3/13.. and yes India had won the toss and elected to Bat..

That should have never played a role in finals.

 

The problem was India lost that match before the toss itself mentally. They never thought they were better team than Australia.

 

That is pity because, India was very strong team in 2003 but mentally very weak.

[neel roy]

5 minutes ago, putrevus said:

Aussies always bat first, 

 

But on that day in 2003 Ganguly simply got scared, just like Rohit Sharma got scared to bat first against Australia in Oval finals.

 

Aussies like Cummins said yesterday would have batted first if they won the toss.They will bat first on Sunday if they win the toss.

 

That is why I laugh when Ganguly is touted as some daring captain.You need guts to do the hard yards as a captain.Ganguly got **** scared after chosing to bat and getting all out in first match for 126.

he elected to bat in damp overcast headingley leeds and won a test match.. he was scared as the first match against aus played in his mind.. he was foreseeing similar 100/7 with legend dinesh mongia coming at 7.. and who knows that would have happened as well with gillespie lee at peak..in hindsight a score of 285/290 was chasable and India had chased 325 in lords 7 months ago.. ponting was plumb lbw against bhajji not given.. all these adds up..

Edited November 17, 2023 by neel roy

[Vickydev]

Same for me, 1st Cricket WC I watched. 

Ponting was brutal wasn't he? Deep down became my first cricketing idol that day.

 

Still thought we had a chance with Dravid carrying that paper with DLS par score. 

 

To think of it which was the more one sided final, 2003 or 2007? 

[R!TTER]

The game was won in the first over itself, by Gilly if Hayden is to be believed, or at the toss depending on how you look at it. Ponting just put the final nail in the coffin.

[Forward Defence]

That Aus team was far better than us. They would have won anyway.

[Trichromatic]

9 minutes ago, neel roy said:

he elected to bat in damp overcast headingley leeds and won a test match.. he was scared as the first match against aus played in his mind.. he was foreseeing similar 100/7 with legend dinesh mongia coming at 7.. and who knows that would have happened as well with gillespie lee at peak..in hindsight a score of 285/290 was chasable and India had chased 325 in lords 7 months ago.. ponting was plumb lbw against bhajji not given.. all these adds up..

 

Yes, India could have stopped Aus around 300. 

 

India started the chase in similar fashion like they did in Lords. Both finals had Ganguly stepping out/making room and hitting pacers. Sehwag was also going after bowlers. 

 

147-3 in 23 overs and 187-4 in 31 overs scored by India meant that anything around 300 could have been chased. 

 

Sometimes I feel that Aus bowling attack of 2003 was slightly overrated. They had McGrath and Lee who were ODI greats, but after that others were just decent bowlers. Gillespie didn't play final.

 

League match had Indian batsmen very low on confidence and most of them were dismissed playing poor shots, not because of movement of the track. 

Ganguly could have backed the team to play out first 10 overs and then take on Michel, Hogg, Lehmann and Symonds.

[Number]

Gilchrist was talking about it on his podcast with Club Prairie Fire.

He said it was damp and overcast and as soon as the toss was done the sun came out with full intensity. By the time they walked out to bat it became a batting beauty.

Moreover, I doubt toss would have played any role. We were far inferior side skills wise and would have got thrashed anyway.

[Norman]

Thank God I was too young to watch that hammering. 

 

But who am I kidding ? My first world cup was 2007, which was even worse.

[Trichromatic]

1 minute ago, Number said:

Gilchrist was talking about it on his podcast with Club Prairie Fire.

He said it was damp and overcast and as soon as the toss was done the sun came out with full intensity. By the time they walked out to bat it became a batting beauty.

Moreover, I doubt toss would have played any role. We were far inferior side skills wise and would have got thrashed anyway.

 

I doubt that team was inferior skill wise, rather very weak mentally. I always feel that Aus was slightly overrated.

[Gollum]

Under Ganguly we had a very poor record in finals, made some 13 or 14 of them (including tri series) and won just one. Most of the losses were against Aus and SL. 

[putrevus]

16 minutes ago, neel roy said:

he elected to bat in damp overcast headingley leeds and won a test match.. he was scared as the first match against aus played in his mind.. he was foreseeing similar 100/7 with legend dinesh mongia coming at 7.. and who knows that would have happened as well with gillespie lee at peak..in hindsight a score of 285/290 was chasable and India had chased 325 in lords 7 months ago.. ponting was plumb lbw against bhajji not given.. all these adds up..

Oval pitch is always bat first, India lost the finals by batting first.

 

In 2003 you had peak Sachin, Sehwag and Ganguly along with Dravid, Kaif Yuvraj. If you are scared to bat first on flat wicket with this lineup .

 

They needed extra cushion of that useless Mongia shows how mentally weak they were that too when Kumble was being wasted on bench.

 

Sehwag , Sachin and Ganguly could bowl in that team.

Edited November 17, 2023 by putrevus

[Norman]

2 minutes ago, Number said:

Gilchrist was talking about it on his podcast with Club Prairie Fire.

He said it was damp and overcast and as soon as the toss was done the sun came out with full intensity. By the time they walked out to bat it became a batting beauty.

Moreover, I doubt toss would have played any role. We were far inferior side skills wise and would have got thrashed anyway.

 

Yeah I saw bits of that podcast somewhere on reddit or YouTube. 

 

He also said that , after the toss was done and Ganguly was on his way to the dressing room , McGrath (who was practising on the ground) said something like "That's your first mistake of the day"..

 

MFs had that level of arrogance and confidence back then.. 

[Gollum]

Correct me if I am wrong but for almost 10 years we didn't win an ODI against Aus whilst chasing. Between Sachin's desert storm knock in the final of Sharjah (98?) and the final ODI of the 2007 series in India where Murali Karthik was MOTM IIRC. 

 

We used to fold while chasing against Brad Williams, Bichel, Symonds, Clarke, Katich etc (eg the 2003-04 TVS tri-series in India which also featured NZ). 

 

Curse them as much as you want but we became a better chasing side in the 2005-06 period when Chappell and Dravid were in charge.