The Indian cricket team is currently locking horns with England at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on October 29, Sunday. Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif, who is part of one of the commentary panels, recalled an incident where the former England captain Nasser Hussain had called him a bus driver.
Well, this wasn’t the first time that Mohammad Kaif has talked about this incident that took place during the 2002 Natwest series final between India and England at Lord’s.
What happened during the 2002 IND vs ENG Natwest series final:
The series is still remembered to be one of the best chases in the history of this game. Team India needed 326 runs to win and despite going five wickets down, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif went on to finish the chase for India and won the trophy. Both the cricketers broke into stardom with this series. Interestingly, to this day, it is remembered as Kaif’s finest innings.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain, who was leading the England cricket team in that memorable game, tried to sledge Kaif when he came out to bat and called him a “bus driver”.
Mohammad Kaif Recalled The Incident
When Kaif came out to bat in the middle, Hussain ended up sledging him and said, “I think he must drive the bus, I think he drives Tendulkar around the bus.”
Speaking at the commentary panel of World Cup 2023’s India vs England clash, Mohammad Kaif said:
“Nasser Hussain called me a bus driver”
In 2020, Nasser Hussain also recalled this incident and revealed how he tried to sledge Kaif when he came out to bat, and called him a “bus driver”. He had said:
“It was the greatest innings that lad played. He will be remembered for that. I saw a picture of him and Yuvraj with the Lord’s in the background, and he had tweeted, “great memories”,
He added: “I remember him coming in and there was a bit of sledge, because we had them five wickets down, and someone said – ‘who’s this, then skip’. So, I said ‘I think he might drive the bus, he might drive Tendulkar on the bus’. When he hit the winning run, he gave me that look – ‘not bad for a bus driver!’,”
“It is one of the most top-five cricket chases, in a nice sort of way. Because it was done by those two. If it had been done by Tendulkar and Sehwag – it would be like, ‘okay, those two did it again’. But it was done by two unknown young lads, and it gave a huge boost to Indian cricket,”
