On This Day In 1998 Cricket: The era of the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s was filled with some of the most exciting India-Pakistan encounters in cricket history. While Pakistan’s all-round depth and a perennially incisive attack gave them the edge in the rivalry, the Men in Blue still fought valiantly and even came out triumphant on several occasions.
One such famous victory arrived in the 1998 Silver Jubilee Independence Cup in Bangladesh, where India won the tri-series.
The series saw India and Pakistan easily defeat Bangladesh, back then an emerging associate side, once each to enter a high-intense round of best-of-three finale. India, having beaten their arch-rivals once during the initial round, continued with momentum against them and clinched
victory in the first final.
Pakistan then bounced back superbly in the second match to level up 1-1 and set up a mouthwatering third and final clash in Dhaka on January 18, 1998.
It proved to be a thriller for the ages. India won the toss and elected to field first. A decision that skipper Mohammad Azharuddin would’ve been criticised widely for after Pakistan’s aggressive duo of Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed hammered a century apiece on a good batting surface in a game reduced to 48 overs per side.
Anwar, one of the finest players in the world at the peak of his prowess, smashed 140 off 132 deliveries, including 14 fours and 2 sixes. Ijaz proved to be too good for the Indian attack as well, hitting his 117 off 112 with 8 fours and 1 six. Pakistan reached a massive score of 314/5, posting what was then considered an unassailable target of 315.
The Indian opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, however, came out fighting and believing that they could do it. The two young talents blasted the Pakistani attack, which was missing its legendary pace pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
While Tendulkar played an inspiring cameo of 41 off just 26 deliveries, Ganguly went on to register one of his greatest hundreds. The Prince of Kolkata batted in his true elements and produced a knock of 124 from 138 deliveries, including 11 fours and 1 six.
At No.3, all-rounder Robin Singh also proved to be a hero for India. The left-hander smashed a run-a-ball 82 before being dismissed.
The trio of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Singh laid the foundation to the Indian run-chase before Pakistan fought back hard and induced a mini-collapse that saw captain Azharuddin (4), Ajay Jadeja (8), Navjot Singh Siddhu (5) come and go in no time.
But young Hrishikesh Kanitkar (11*) held his nerves batting in the middle-order and pushed India to the brink in a partnership with Nayan Mongia (9). Mongia’s run-out threatened to end the contest in Pakistan’s favour, but Kanitkar found support from Javagal Srinath (5*).
With 10 needed off the last over against Saqlain Mushtaq, Srinath somehow made sure to give the strike back to Kanitkar, who hammered the great off-spinner for a boundary on the penultimate delivery and sealed the Indian victory.
