When Sachin said no but Dada said, ‘Let’s go’ - The story of Lord’s T-shirt celebration

LUCKNOW: The photograph of Sourav Ganguly whirling his navy-blue India shirt above his head on the Lord’s balcony has become shorthand for audacity, but the full story of that 2002 NatWest Trophy afternoon has only now slipped into public view. Speaking at the TOISA awards here, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla—then the team manager—revealed that the spontaneous-looking celebration was almost a collective act that never happened because Sachin Tendulkar quietly exercised a captain’s right of refusal.

Shukla, asked to name his most treasured cricket memory, did not hesitate. “The NatWest final at Lord’s on 13 July 2002,” he said, recalling how England’s 325 for five had left the Indian dressing-room in a hush. “Virender Sehwag told me, ‘Manager sahib, kuchh nahin hoga, jeetenge.’ He and Ganguly gave us a flyer—100 in 14 overs—but when we slipped to 146 for five in the 23rd, I was pacing the corridor.”

The turnaround came from two 20-year-olds. Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh added 121 in 19.3 overs, Kaif finishing unbeaten as India scraped home with three wickets and two balls to spare. “The entire balcony erupted,” Shukla said. “Ganguly immediately told me, ‘Ask everyone to take their shirts off and join me outside.’ I passed the message; Sachin said, ‘Rajeev bhai, let’s not. It won’t look proper.’ I agreed, and the plan was dropped.”

No one, however, had briefed the Indian captain. Ganguly strode through the Long Room alone, reached the ornate balcony, peeled off his shirt and twirled it in the London sky—an echo of Andrew Flintoff’s bare-chested act in Mumbai five months earlier and a moment that would redefine on-field emotion for a generation.

Shukla, smiling at the memory, called it “the celebration that almost had a full cast but became a solo performance—pure Dada style.”

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