Sahara Cup, 1st One-Day International, India v Pakistan, 12 September 1998

CricInfo Match Report

Toronto, 12 September 1998

The first match of the five match Sahara Friendship series got of to a rather inauspicious start, with the beginning of the match being delayed by 30 minutes because of a rain shower. India won the toss, and voted to put Pakistan in to bat into what looked like a bowler friendly wicket. The skies were slightly overcast, but were to improve during the day.

The two Pakistani openers, Saeed Anwar, and Shahid Afridi entered the field in front of a rather hostile and vociferous crowd, made up of mainly Indian spectators. The openers got of to a reasonably good start against the Indian opening pace attack of Srinath and the youngster, Agarkar making 17 runs in the first two overs alone . Afridi however, after smashing one of his trademark sixes of Agarkar over cover, edged a ball from Srinath into the safe hands of Azharuddin, to get out on a paltry score of 8, only 13 minutes after the match had begun.

In came Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar's traditional opening partner. They both proceeded to play slightly on the defensive, going mainly for the ones and twos, and the very occasional boundary. Their partnership just went into the fifties, when, in the 20th over bowled by Ganguly , Sohail played across the line and was given out by umpire Steve Dunne, who thought for a mere second. Shoal thus departed after having made 21 runs of 57 balls. His partnership with Anwar had lasted for 78 minutes, and had added 52 runs to the Pakistan total.

In came Inzamam-ul-Haq, famous in Toronto for the infamous "Aloo" incident of 1997. The crowd greeted him with yet more unflattering chants. He faced the now fired up Saurav Ganguly, but the rest of the over was uneventful. It ended with Anwar on 33* , and Inzamam yet to open his account.

However, soon after, in the next over, Anwar tried to play a ball from Kanitkar to his leg-side, missed, and was given out lbw. Thus, the second opening batsman departed, with 35 runs to his name after having faced 61 balls.

The Pakistan innings proceeded at a snails pace, with the first 10 overs seeing their score at 36/1 and their 50 coming up after 73 balls and 91 minutes.

Saleem Malik then entered, and started of extremely well, hitting Ganguly for a crackling four in the very next over. Both batsmen continued playing on the defensive, collecting the usual ones and twos. However, in the 38th over, Inzamam got hold of a short ball from Ganguly and hit it over extra cover for a smashing four, breaking a window in the process. After a slight delay in retrieving the ball, the game continued. However, Inzamam's run of luck failed him, and, as he swept the ball , he was caught at cover by Paranjpe, with a score of 20.

In came a relative newcomer, Abdur Razzaq, strangely promoted over Ijaz Ahmed. He lasted for barely 8 minutes though, getting out on 3 to a thin edge off Ganguly to the wicket keeper.

Replacing him was Ijaz Ahmed, one of the more experienced players in the Pakistani side. He and Salim Malik proceeded to build a partnership of 35 runs, when Malik was out to Srinath, Caught and bowled, for 41, the top scorer in the Pakistani side. Srinath managed to hang on to a good catch in spite of a collision with fellow fast bowler, Prasad. Ijaz followed immediately after, the very next ball, hitting the ball straight to Azhar, at cover point.

The new batsmen, Moin Khan and Azhar Mahmood, then came together. Mahmood, showing none of the form which earned him his place in the side, lasted for barely 3 minutes, getting out to Agarkar for a mere 1 run.

The new batsman, Aquib Javed, too, didn't last for long, and got out on the score of 1 to Agarkar, who seemed to be on a roll. Pakistans score meanwhile looked rather pathetic at 180/9 with one over and one ball to go. After him came the last man in, Mohd Zahid who batted with Moin Khan for the remaining over, to end with Pakistan final score at 189/9. Moin had managed 14* runs, with Zahid hitting a quickfire 7*. Thus ended the sad sight of Pakistans first inning in the 1998 Sahara Cup.

After adjourning for lunch, India came into bat, looking all spruced up and ready. The innings were overshadowed by just one thing, Gangulys injury. Both the openers, Ganguly and Sidhu were on a roll, with "Bengal tiger" , Ganguly, hitting the second ball of the innings for a four over extra cover. The Pakistan bowlers looked rather dispirited, under the overcast Toronto skies. The Indian batsman proceeded at a reasonable pace, until Ganguly left the field after making 10 runs, with what looked like a hamstring. In came Azhar, who was given a great welcome by the crowd. He and Sidhu proceed to make 74 runs in 94 balls, over a period f 76 minutes, when, while trying for a quick third run during a Razzaq over , was run out by a combination of Mahmood and Moin. He departed after having made a reasonable 28 runs, playing a very entertaining innings. He was replaced by Ganguly, returning to the field. Six minutes later, Sidhu, after having played a solid knock, was out to Zahid, for 45.

In came Dravid, and out he went after making 4. He was followed by Kanitkar. He and Ganguly built a solid partnership of 46 of 74 balls. Then Kanitkar edged a ball from Javed on the last ball of the over to Moin, and out he went for 17, with India on 153/4.

This brought Paranjpe and Ganguly together, and Ganguly embarked upon yet another good partnership, making 34 with Paranjpe. In the 36th over, Paranjpe played a shot high up in the air , over square leg, for a glorious sixer. Just after Ganguly completed his 50, the only half century of the match, and hit a four towards mid wicket, his hamstring overtook him all over again, and with less than 5 runs left to win, he retired hurt , with his final score on 54.

Nayan Mongia came in to wrap up the job for India, with the help of Paranjpe. And that they did in style, with Paranjpe winning the match for India with a four to long off. Paranjpe ended the day with 23*, and Mongia with 2*.

After the match, Sohail said that he had to give credit to the Indian bowlers as they really bowled well, while Azhar selected out Sidhu and Ganguly for their brilliant innings. Sohail said that he knew the match was out of Pakistans hands immediately after the 15th over, when India had already scored 78 runs.

Sunil Gavaskar, who presented himself as G.S. Manohar, awarded the man-of-the-match to Saurav Ganguly.

Written for CricInfo by Minakshi Pai (minakshi@cricinfo.com)