Sahara Cup 1998 : Toronto Diaries (Part III)

MATCH 5 | September 20, 1998

The victorious Pakistani side at the presentation ceremony

Mohd. Azharuddin won the fifth straight toss against Aamir Sohail but this time unlike the previous 4 occasions, chose to bat first.

With a century partnership with the returning Tendulkar (77), his stroke-filled hundred lifted India to a challenging scoring. Until this dead rubber, the Indian batting was brittle and anaemic, with only Ganguly and Sidhu having scored a fifty each.

Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail replied with a century partnership of their own and won the series 4-1, mirroring the scoreline of the 1997 series.

India 256/9 | Mohd. Azharuddin 101, Saqlain Mushtaq 4/67

Pakistan 258/5 | Aamir Sohail 97*, Javagal Srinath 3/50

Pakistan won by 5 wickets | Player of the Match: Aamir Sohail

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Inzamam-ul-Haq won the player of the series award for his consistent batting and an aggregate of 214 runs. And so, after 3 series and 15 games across 3 years, the rivalry was as tight as ever with the cumulative score of matches reading Pakistan 8-7 India.

Politics and cricket, are interlinked and any frostiness in diplomatic relation leads to thawing of cricketing ties. Sahara Cup bore the brunt of Kargil War, as the remaining editions of 1999 and 2000 couldn't take place.

The series was later called off after Sahara India, the sponsors, pulled out in the wake of the Pakistani intrusion in Kashmir in 1999. The diplomatic relations between the two countries considerably worsened and India suspended all cricketing ties with Pakistan from 2000, until 2004.

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This is part three of the series - Sahara Cup: Toronto Diaries. Read part I here and part II here.