Sahara Cup, 1997-98

India put behind them a miserable sequence of seven defeats in their last eight completed one-day internationals to triumph over Pakistan in the second Sahara Cup. The tournament had been inaugurated in the unlikely setting of the Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club in 1996, specifically for the benefit of a satellite television channel covering south-east Asia. The previous year, Pakistan won the final match to secure the Cup 3-2. Now, India reeled off four straight victories before spirited Pakistan batting earned them belated consolation.

Ironically, attention was diverted from the cricket by just the sort of incident that the distant location was chosen to avoid. In the second match, the heavy-set Pakistani Inzamam-ul-Haq was repeatedly taunted about his size by a spectator using a megaphone. Aloo, Hindi for potato, was reportedly the offensive word. Inzamam charged into the stand wielding a bat, handed to him on the boundary by the twelfth man, to accost his tormentor. Although play was suspended for more than half an hour, the scuffle was quickly quelled by ground security and there was no further trouble. In the end, the repercussions were no more serious than the two-match suspension handed down against Inzamam by referee Jackie Hendriks for conduct unbecoming an international cricketer and for bringing the game into disrepute, and the charges of assault, subsequently dropped, brought against both Inzamam and the spectator, a Toronto resident of Indian descent.

India's star was Sourav Ganguly, unquestionably Man of the Series after earning the individual award in four of the matches. He had already been recognised for his stylish left-handed batting, which brought him 222 runs. Here, his right-arm medium-pace swing, for which he was less well-known, was encouraged by helpful pitches and earned him 15 wickets; he had taken only one in 42 previous one-day internationals.

Pakistan were missing three of their best players. Captain Wasim Akram, filling the role of television commentator instead, and leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed were both injured; Waqar Younis was helping Glamorgan to the County Championship. The experienced Ramiz Raja led the team but failed with the bat; he was replaced when the two teams travelled to Pakistan for a three-match series immediately afterwards.

Match reports for

1st ODI: India v Pakistan at Toronto, Sep 13, 1997
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2nd ODI: India v Pakistan at Toronto, Sep 14, 1997
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3rd ODI: India v Pakistan at Toronto, Sep 17, 1997
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3rd ODI: India v Pakistan at Toronto, Sep 18, 1997
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4th ODI: India v Pakistan at Toronto, Sep 20, 1997
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5th ODI: India v Pakistan at Toronto, Sep 21, 1997
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