Sahara Cup 1997 : Toronto Diaries (Part II)
The Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Ground was the latest off-shore venue hosting cricket in a completely new location of North America, beaming from Singapore to cater the growing middle-class in the subcontinent and its seemingly insatiable appetite for high-octane action. Cricket was beginning to get global and ambitious on the back of a rivalry that was fiercer than the Ashes.
It was surprising that while expanding the footprint to the American continent, the matches were not played in colored clothing! However, the ESPN ratings corroborated the notion that for cricket, the sub-continental fans will let go sleep and watch late into the night. And so, despite a huge time difference, the success of the first edition of the Sahara Cup had laid the foundation for a crackling yearly series. September was a fantastic time to play in Toronto, though the increasingly busy international schedule forced the games to be played within 10-11 days. The situation was not as tiring as it seems because the venue for all matches remained the same, eliminating logistics and travelling time.
India were having a season of prolonged disappointments when they touched down in Toronto. 1997 was littered with mediocre performances. With just a single win in 8 games, India was the under-dog despite Pakistan missing three of their best players in Wasim Akram, leggie wizard Mushtaq Ahmed and Waqar Younis - who was still completing his county season with Glamorgan. The circumstances hence led to Ramiz Raja being the stand-in Pakistani skipper.
Just as Sourav Ganguly had his moment in the sun in Tests at Lord's last summer, this was to be his breakout series in ODIs. Player of the Match in four back-to-back matches, he basked in the windy and seaming conditions. Already recognized for his ability to pierce even an 7-2 field placing on the off-side, he became a wrecker-in-chief with his right-arm medium pace swing bowling. Pakistan struggled to keep him in check.
Here's a roundup of the completely unexpected series win for India.
MATCH 1 | September 13, 1997
India came into this game after posting a win against Canada in the warm-up match. Debasis Mohanty and Harvinder Singh debuted in the match in which Pakistan put India in to bat. A steady and sluggish start by openers was later built upon with a quick fire 49 by Ajay Jadeja. Azharuddin too had a good outing with a fifty and pouched 4 catches in the field, a record for any Indian fielder.
India 208 all out | Mohd. Azharuddin 52, Saqlain Mushtaq 5/45
Pakistan 188 all out | Saleem Malik 64, Harvinder Singh 3/44
India won by 20 runs | Player of the Match : Ajay Jadeja
This is part two of the series. Read part I here.