Scoreboard:
India 261-9 (50 Overs)
South Africa 251-6 (50 Overs)
Full Scorecard: India vs South Africa 2002 Champions Trophy Semi Final
It was the third edition of ICC Champions trophy which was supposed to be held in India first but later on it was shifted to Sri Lanka at the last moment. 12 teams participated along two non test playing nations Kenya and Netherlands. 4 teams were divided into 3 groups to play the league stage round. Each team has to play once in the league stage in their respective groups with other teams. In Group A there were Australia, Bangladesh and New Zealand teams. In Group B there were India, England and Zimbabwe teams.
While in Group C there were South Africa, West Indies and Kenya teams. In Group D there were Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Netherlands teams. The top team from every group will qualify to play the knockout stage of the tournament. India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia from their respective groups qualify for the next round. It was very surprising that team India has qualified for the knockout round who was practically out of the competition. When Team India went against Zimbabwe in a league stage match which team India won by the margin of just 14 runs after scoring 288 runs in the allotted 50 overs with the loss of 6 wickets.
In response to this Zimbabwe went onto scored 274 runs and lost the game by 14 runs. If Andy Flower who scored 145 runs which featured 13 fours had remained till last Zimbabwe easily won the match yet he didn't got uphold from other players and in the end his team lost the match. But Andy Flower exposed the team India bowling who had any semblance of Anil Kumble, Zaheer khan, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. As team India won the next match too against England and affirmed their place for the Semi-finals.
First semi-final was between India and South Africa. There were no expectations from team India against the dominating side like South Africa who has been boosted with the likes of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener. After winning the toss team India decided to bat and there choice is by all accounts looked ludicrous when they were reduced to 135/4. But Rahul Dravid (49) and Yuvraj Singh (62) provide some resistance to the team and helped India posted the respected total of 261 runs in their allotted 50 overs with the loss of 9 wickets.
In response South Africa got off to a worst start when they lost Graeme Smith at the score of 14/1 by spectacular catch from Yuvraj Singh at the backward point. But Herschelle Gibbs along with Jacques Kallis put on 180 run partnership for the second wicket to confirm their victory. With 68 runs required Herschelle Gibbs (116) got retired hurt after facing some serious cramps and never returned to the crease.
South Africa from 194/1 to 251/6 the momentum was shifted with two acrobatic catches of Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher from Yuvraj Singh and took team India back into the context. Eventually after South Africa lost the match by 10 runs. But Virender Sehwag was adjudged the man of the match but it was not possible without that fielding effort shown by Yuvraj Singh during those two acrobatic catches.
