India and Pakistan – Daring & Drama, The Tale Of An Epic Final, 1998

Background

India and Pakistan cricket matches are always a tale of great rivalry and even greater contest, same is true for The Silver Jubilee Independence Cup, a One Day International cricket tournament held in Dhaka, Bangladesh during January 1998. The tournament was held as a celebration of 25 years of Bangladesh’s independence and all the games were held at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hosts Bangladesh, India and Pakistan were the participating teams in the tournament.

The sides played each other in a round robin, meaning that each side played two matches. The top two teams at the end of the round-robin stage played each other in Best of Three Finals. India and Pakistan in this case played the best of three finals.

The Finals – India and Pakistan

When it comes to the fierce rivalry between India and Pakistan and the intensity of games, all the stake holders come with lots of pressure and anticipation. The fans were eagerly awaiting for best of three finals between India and Pakistan and they deliver on all counts.

1st Final

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. Pakistan scored 212/8 in 46 overs. Sachin Tendulkar picked up 3/45 in 7 overs.

India chased down the total comfortably with Sachin scoring a blistering 95 off 78 balls and in the process became the youngest cricketer to score 6000 ODI runs at 24 years 265 days.

Scorecard

2nd Final

India won the toss and elected to bat. It did not go that well and India folded at 189 all out which was easily chased by Pakistan who won by 6 wickets.

Scorecard

3rd Final

Scorecard

We then came to the all important 3rd final which would eventually become one of most thrilling matches in ODI cricket and so etched in history that we still recall it fondly as Indian fans. This match can be the perfect example of greatness of India and Pakistan Cricket.

India won the toss and chose to field. Pakistan made the most of it on the back of a brilliant 140 off 132 balls by Saeed Anwar and posted a huge total of 314 runs. These were the days when 250 runs on the board gave you more than a fair chance of a win.

Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed set a record for highest partnership for the third wicket that time (230 runs).

India had work cut out for them. If they managed to win, they would have chased the highest score in an ODI (that time) resulting in a win.

Sachin once again gave India a scintillating start. The kind of stuff that were unheard of in those time literally exploding in the initial overs with a blistering 41 off 26 balls with a SR of 157.69. But Indian fans would have wanted him to stay longer. Someone had to take the risk because a good start was paramount considering the target.

After Tendulkar’s wicket, considering the match situation and the need of the hour, Azharuddin, the Indian captain, made a remarkable decision to promote Robin Singh to no. 3 above all the other top order batsman seeing the need to have an attacking batsman in the middle.

And Robin Singh did not disappoint as he built a 179 run partnership with Ganguly taking India closer to the target. The job was still not done when Robin Singh got out with India needing 65 off the final 10 overs. What followed was a series of strutting and crawling towards the target with wickets falling continuously. India somehow managed to hang on in the game with a longish tail. If not for Ganguly’s 124 off 138, India would have fallen apart. He not only kept everything together till he was at the crease but also did not let the required rate rise up too much.

India needed 9 off the final over with inexperienced Kanitkar at the crease as a recognized batsman and Srinath along with him.

It was almost dark. The last over was to be bowled by Saqlain Mushtaq. Kanitkar could only manage a 1 on the first ball. 8 off 5. Srinath on strike. Those days, anything could happen when Indian tail was on strike.

Srinath swung and did not connect well. Result was a skier which fell safe and batsmen ran 2. 6 off 4 now.

Srinath swung again on the third ball and the result was another skier which landed safe making Indian fans let out a gasp of breath. 4 off 3 now.

On the 4th ball, Srinath steered it to third man to take a single and handing over the strike to the more accomplished batsman. 3 off 2 now.

Everyone had their hearts in their mouth. The light was almost out. Saqlain ran in and bowled. Kanitkar sort of half swept the ball towards mid wicket which was vacant and got 4 resulting in an eruption of emotions amongst Indian fans.

India had overcome their arch rivals in an epic fight dismantling records for the likes of us to remember for eternity. This was the highest successful run chase in ODI history that time.