‘Bus driver drives a convertible now’ – Kaif responds to Hussain’s 2002 sledge

Featuring in Sky Sports Cricket‘s podcast ‘One That Got Away’, Hussain relived India’s memorable heist at Lord’s from 19 years ago, when Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, two unheralded youngsters, combined to chase down England’s 325-run total.

“It is the greatest innings that lad [Kaif] played,” Hussain said. “He will be remembered for that, I saw a picture of Yuvraj with the Lord’s in the background, and he’s tweeted ‘great memories’, and the memories are for that game.”

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“I remember actually him coming in, and there was a bit of a sledge because we’ve got the Fab Five out and someone was saying ‘Alright – who’s this then, Skip?’ and I was like: ‘I think he [Kaif] must drive the bus. I think he drives Tendulkar around on the bus.’

.@nassercricket, thanks to that innings the bus driver drives a convertible now 🙂 @skycricket https://t.co/2nnFyNhkhn

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 16, 2020

“I might have made up the ending for an after-dinner speech, but when he hit the winning runs, ‘not bad for a bus driver’ sort of a line. He gave me that sort of look.”

Quote-tweeting the audio snippet on Saturday, Kaif indicated how the knock changed his life by quipping: “@nassercricket, thanks to that innings the bus driver drives a convertible now :).”

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Kaif’s unbeaten 87 has since become part of Indian cricketing folklore, with the win being considered the turning point in India’s modern-day white-ball renaissance.

“It is probably in India, one of the top-5 most talked about cricket matches and in a nice sort of way – because it was done by those two,” Hussain said. “If it just been [Virender] Sehwag and [Sachin] Tendulkar again, it would have been like ‘okay they have done it’. But, to be outdone by two relatively unknown young lads I think was a great boost to Indian cricket.”