Despite the teams playing on the reserve day, the 2002 Champions Trophy final between India and Sri Lanka finished in a draw, making it the year’s most talked-about event. Sanath Jayasuriya, the captain of Sri Lanka, chose to bat after winning the toss on the opening day. Sri Lanka scored a decent 244/5 thanks to his 74 and Kumar Sangakkara’s 54.
Rain did not let up and forced the game into the reserve day. Indian openers Dinesh Mongia and Virender Sehwag batted for just two overs, scoring 14 runs before play was stopped. The game began anew the following day, with India bowling to Sri Lanka once more after the latter won the toss and chose to bat again, in contrast to the contemporary practice of picking up where the game left off the day before.
Similar to the day before, Indian bowlers were spot on as Zaheer Khan took three wickets for 44 runs, limiting the Lankans to 222/7. With their heavyweight batting lineup, India was ready to easily chase the target, but they lost Mongia for a duck before Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar began to save the innings. When the game was again delayed by rain, India had scored 38/1, and Sehwag and Tendulkar were undefeated at 25 and 7, respectively.
Under MS Dhoni, India won the Champions Trophy in 2013 as the only team to do so after nearly 11 years.
The game was canceled after a lengthy wait, and Sri Lanka and India split the prize. It is important to remember that during the two days of play, India only batted 10.4 overs and bowled 100 overs. Additionally, this was both teams’ first Champions Trophy 2025 victory. Only two years had passed since their home victory in the 2011 ODI World Cup.
India
