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Indian Cricket'97
Wills Challenger Cup Sahara Cup'97- India clashes with Pakistan
Robin Singh bowled after another gutsy innings in the Lahore match in the Will Challenger CupWills Challenger Cup
Pakistan Celebrating 50 years of IndependenceAfter eight long years the Indian cricket team reached Pakistan to participate in the Wills Challenger Cup, hosted by Pakistan on the occasion of their 50th year of Independence.
It was the same team for the Indians, but after the series lose in Toronto, Rameez Raza and Salim Malik were dropped from the Pakistan team and Saeed Anwar was the new captain. But the Pakistan team had high expectations as their main seam bowler Waqar Yunis was back in the team.
Ist ODI - 28 Sept '97
The first match was played in Hyderabad. India after winning the toss elected to bat. But the comeback of the ace bowler Waqar Yunis in the Pakistan squad made it for them, as they bowled out India for 170 runs.
In the Pakistan innings, after Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi had provided a blistering 70-run opening stand in 78 balls, some reckless and irresponsible batting by the middle-order batsmen left Pakistan struggling at 138 for five with the wicket providing all sorts of help to spinner Nilesh Kulkarni. But Inzamamul Haq rose to the occasion and batted very intelligently to carry the home team to victory and provide a crucial 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
2nd ODI - 30th Sept ' 97
The second match was a do or die match for India as they had to win it so as to keep the series alive. And they did it in style.
Pakistan batted first and made 265 in 47 overs as the game was interrupted by some people. India needed 266 in 47 overs. The in-form, Saurav Ganguly made 89 from 96 balls and gave India the start they needed. But once his wicket fell, everything seemed to be over as the middle order collapsed once again. India required 45 runs from 30 balls with the frontline back in the dressing room and hoping for the remarkable to be accomplished by Robin Singh and Saba Karim. They got 14 from Mushtaq's 43rd and 10 from Shahid Afridi's 44th. Yet, the Indians seemed a good distance from the target of 266 in 47 overs. Mushtaq was struck for 11 in the 45th. Now it was 10 from 12 balls. Thirty five from three overs and India was cantering to a win by four wickets.
Chauhan's brave and timely strike gave the finishing touch, but the real brave men were Robin Singh and Karim who showed exceptional common sense in picking the right deliveries for punishment. The left-hander's six off Mushtaq of the last ball of the 43rd over was a class act. The 62 runs for the sixth wicket in 59 balls was the precursor to Chauhan's successful effort. Anwar may have genuine reasons to complain on not getting a ball of his choice in the 41st over, but it was not the Indians' fault.
3rd ODI - 2nd Oct '97
The third and deciding match of the Will Challenger Cup was won by Pakistan as Ejaz thrashed Indians to help Pakistan win series.
A belligerent, career-best, unbeaten knock of 139 runs, studded with nine sixes and ten boundaries, by the dashing stroke-player Ejaz Ahmad Senior helped Pakistan team outplay Indian side by a big margin of nine wickets in the third and last international match under floodlights at the Qadhafi Stadium and clinched the series 2-1.
A jampacking crowd of over 30,000 was thrilled by a superlative performance by the Pakistan side which has the capability to rise to great heights as it did.
India Clashes With Pakistan
Date: 13th September 1997, Day: Saturday, Time: 19.30, Place: Toronto
Huge ground, around 4000 spectators, some of them have tri colored Indian flags and some others have green colored Pakistani flags. All the 8000 eyes are on the middle of the ground on those 22 men clad in white. Ten of them belong to India and the rest ten belong to Pakistan. Well what are they upto. Yes, you guessed it right, they are here for the five one day international series of Sahara Cup'97.
Click above on the match options for a brief report.
India v Pakistan, 1st One-day International
Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling ClubToss: Pakistan
Indian Innings
Pakistan opted to field first and restricted India for a modest total of 208 in the allotted 50 overs. Mohammad Azharuddin Scored 52 runs the highest total in the Indian innings.On the bowling side Saqlain Mushtaq got 5 wickets for 45 runs from his 10 overs.Pakistan Innings
With a strong batting line up Pakistan had to score just 209 runs of 300 balls. But the Indian bowlers who were being underestimated for their lack of experience came up with an exceptionally good spell. Pakistan was all out for 188. Salim Malik scored the highest 64 for Pakistan. Harvinder who was making his debut in the one day international took three wickets.Result: India won by 20 runs and led the series by 1-0
Man of the match: A Jadeja
India v Pakistan, 2nd One-day International
Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club
14 September 1997Toss: Pakistan
Pakistan Innings
Pakistan opted to bat first and very soon realized the mistake when the wickets started falling in a regular interval. 36 from Salim Malik was the highest score in the Pakistan score board. India once again bowled exceptionally well and restricted Pakistan for 116 runs. This time it was Debashish Mohanty who was playing his second one day international who destroyed the Pakistan innings by taking three wickets in just seven over giving away just 16 runs. But it was Ganguly who really- really bowled well and gave away just 15 runs off his 10 overs claiming 2 very important wickets.The rest of the bowlers supported them well.Indian Innings
India reached the target of 117 in just 35 overs with three wickets down. Saurav Ganguly was out for 32 runs. Then Sachin Tendulkar and Azharuddin led India to the victory target. Pakistan gave away 16 extras.Result: India won by 7 wickets and led the 5-ODI series 2-0.
Man of the match: SC Ganguly
India v Pakistan, 3rd One-day International
Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club
18 September 1997Toss: Pakistan
Indian Innings
Well it was a great game for India because they knew that if they won this match they will be the owner of Sahara Cup for the year 1997. But when the wickets started falling in regular intervals, all the hopes of winning the third match was shading off. But great mature performance by Azharuddin who made 64 and quick 20 runs by Jadeja and unbeatable 32 off 29 balls by Robin Singh gave India some hope and they managed to take the total score to 182. Aqib Javed bowled really well as he gave away just 17 runs of 10 overs and took one wicket.Pakistan Innings
Pakistan seemed to be right on the top of the game when the two openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar gave a brilliant start to the Pakistan Innings. The first wicket fell when the score was 52. Next fell on 79. They were still going strong but once the wickets of Rameez Raza and Salim Malik fell they seemed to have lost the game. And all the destruction was done by Saurav Ganguly who took 5 important wickets and gave away just 16 runs in his allotted 10 overs. It was an unbelievable win for the Indians.Result: India won by 34 runs
Series: India leads the 5-ODI series 3-0Man of the match: SC Ganguly
India v Pakistan, 4th One-day International
Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club
20 September 1997Toss: India
4th match was reduced to 28 overs rain interruption.
Pakistan Innings
India at last won the toss and elected to field first. Saeed Anwar as usual gave a flying start to the innings and got 30 off 30 balls. But the middle order batsmen collapsed and the tail enders gave some hope as Azhar Mahmood scored fantastic 33 off 24 balls and Pakistan reached the total of 159.Indian Innings
As India could not finish their bowling within the allotted time, they were penalized for it and had to score 160 in 26 overs. Sachin failed with the bat but Ganguly and Jadeja remained unbeaten on 75 and 38. India once again won the match by 7 wickets.Result: India won by 7 wickets
Series: India leads the 5-ODI series 4-0Man of the match: SC Ganguly
India v Pakistan, 5th One-day International
Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club
21 September 1997Toss: Pakistan
Indian Innings:
Pakistan invited India to bat first and the Indian captain made the Pakistani fielders to run after each ball he hit. He scored 50 of 64 balls. And so did Saurav Ganguly who scored the highest individual score of 96 off 137 balls. Azharuddin scored 50 runs and Jadeja 23. In total India made 250 off 50 overs.Pakistan Innings
In reply to India's total, Pakistan were on fire when the first wicket partnership went upto 102 in just 10 overs. Then came Ganguly with his all rounder performance taking two very important wickets. But Shahid Afridi and Iajz Ahmed the Pakistani Openers had given a very brilliant start to the Pakistan innings which helped Inzamam to reach the target in the 42nd over itself. Inzamam scored 71 and Pakistan won the match by 5 wickets.Result: Pakistan won by 5 wickets
Series: India wins the 5-ODI series 4-1Man of the match: SC Ganguly
Man of the series: SC Ganguly
India Vs West Indies - The Calypso Series
The Test Series:
India lost the five test series against host West Indies. Shivnarain Chandrapaul made his debute test match century in the series.
The One Day Internationals:
West Indies defeated India in the One Day Internationals as well. Again Shivnarain Chandrapaul made his debute century in the one day international against India. He was given the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards.
India is hosted the Four Nation Independence Cup Cricket on the occassion of its' 50 years of Independence. Apart from hosts India, World Cup champions Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand featured in the day-night limited overs tournament.The series was scheduled to begin on May 9, where New Zealand took on Pakistan in the S.A.S stadium under the floodlights at Mohali near Chandigarh, India.
The Indian Squad for the series was:
- Sachin Tendulkar (Capt)
- Saurav Ganguly
- Gagan Khoda
- Rahul Dravid
- Vinod Kambli
- Ajay Jadeja
- Robin Singh
- Nayan Mongia (wk)
- Anil Kumble (wc)
- Sunil Joshi
- Neol David
- Venkatesh Prasad
- Abey Kuruvilla
- Dodda Ganesh
Sri Lanka lifted the Independence Cup beating Pakistan in the Final.
Sri Lanka hosted the Pepsi Asia Cup '97. Four Nations participated in the tournament which were India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka entered the final with straight win in all the league matches. India defeated Bagladesh in the last league match to enter the finals with a higher run rate than Pakistan.
Sri Lanka "The Champions" did it in a style. After the Independence Cup they lifted the Pepsi Cup also with same pride. Sri Lanka defeated India with 8 wickets in hand and 13 overs to spare.
Sri Lanka lifted the Pepsi Asia '97 beating India in the Final.
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