On February 26, 2003, a young Indian pacer showed the world how to make use of the aiding conditions to destroy opponents with swing bowling. Playing the match after nursing a swollen ankle for two days, 23-year-old Ashish Nehra was having a ball at Kingsmead in Durban.
India and England faced off in the Group Stage clash to seal the Super Six spot. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to bat first.
India were given a good start with openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar putting on 60 runs for the first wicket. Tendulkar(50 off 52 balls) and Rahul Dravid(62 off 72 balls) hit half-centuries to make sure India had a competitive total on the board. A young Yuvraj Singh contributed 42 runs of 38 balls as India finished with 250/9 in the allotted 50 overs.
Chasing 250, England got off poorly as opener Nick Knight was brilliantly run-out by Mohammad Kaif on the first delivery of the second over. Indian pacers Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan kept the English batsmen in check as England reached 28/2 in 12 overs.
Ashish Nehra was introduced in the 13th over and what unfolded from the left-arm seamers arm dazzled the crowd. Such was his act on the day, Sourav Ganguly bowled Nehra out in a single spell and the Delhi-lad finished with career-best figures of 6/23 from his 10 overs that included two maidens.
Ashish Nehra first had England skipper Nasser Hussain caught behind by Dravid in his third over. Angling away from over the wicket, it was pitched back of a good length finding the edge as Hussain tried to cut the ball.
Very next ball, Nehra pitched much fuller as he had veteran wicketkeeper Alec Stewart trapped plumb in front of the stumps. After each wicket, Nehra set off like an aeroplane with extended arms and he was unstoppable throughout the innings.
In his next over, Nehra removed Michael Vaughan on a fuller delivery that found the edge for Dravid to complete an easy catch. With the third wicket, he improved on his best figures in ODI cricket which were 3/30 before the match.
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Nehra's next victim was Paul Collingwood who was caught by Sehwag in the slip cordon. Interestingly, Nehra was consistent as he bowled with a disciplined line and length putting the pressure on English batsmen.
Nehra finished off his spell with two wickets off the last over, first removing Craig White caught behind and then finding Ronnie Irani's edge fly into Sehwag's hand at second slip.
After the wicket-taking spree was over, England needed 144 runs in 19 overs. Andrew Flintoff hit a fighting 64 but could not save his side from a big defeat as England were bowled out for 168 runs.
With the 82 runs win, India assured themselves a place in the Super Six stage of the tournament. Ashish Nehra's 6/23 still stands as the best figures by an Indian at the World Cup.