The day I took out Tendulkar, Ganguly and Sehwag
THE KWAZULU-Natal cricket team pulled off a major upset at the Chatsworth Oval in February 2003 by beating a world-class India team by 32 runs in a game the Indians were using to tune their team in the run-up to the 2003 Cricket World Cup which was held on South African soil.
The KZN side was captained by Doug Watson and included well-known figures who were then very young such as Rivash Gobind (now the assistant coach of Afghanistan), Proteas legend Hashim Amla, Jon Kent and current Dolphins coach Imraan Khan.
The Indians fielded a star-studded line-up which included then captain Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
The Indians were one of the pre-tournament favourites to lift the World Cup and ended up as the runners-up, losing to Australia in the final at the Wanderers.
Batting first, KZN posted 190/9 and the Indians were expected to ease to victory.
They were bowled out for 158 with then young pace bowler Yadene Singh being one of their chief destroyers.
Singh finished with bowling figures of 3-38 with his victims being Tendulkar (9), Ganguly (6) and Sehwag (40).
His victims were players who are considered among the all-time greats of the game.
Speaking to the POST, Singh, now 40, recollected the game.
“I was not sure up until an hour or so before the game that I would play.
“They announced a full house batting line-up with all their stars. I was then told that I’m in the playing squad and that I’d be taking the new ball as well.
“I have a nothing-to-lose attitude, and even with all the mention of going up against legends and icons of the game, I focused myself to just do what I did best.
“I was bowling on my home ground and bowling from my favourite end with the new ball,” said Singh.
Singh’s interest in the game started in 1992 while watching the World Cup in Australia that year.
His favourite players included Tendulkar, Brian Lara as well as legendary bowlers Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath who had an influence on his own game.
He is a product of Effingham Secondary and is among a select few who progressed to professional cricket despite having not attended an elite sports school.
“I played the last two school years with the Durban and Districts Schools XI.
“That was a team of boys from non-cricketing schools. In club cricket I played mostly in KZN with Chatsworth United pre-retirement,” said Singh who turned out for the Dolphins and Lions in franchise cricket.
Singh retired from competitive cricket in 2007 to pursue other passions.
He is based in Johannesburg and is still part of the Lenasia cricket club set-up, having played for and coached the team since his retirement.
He works in the innovation team of TymeBank.
Singh is married to Nuresha and has two daughters, Sahar and Mehar.