Cricket, Asia Cup, India-Pakistan match: On August 28, India and Pakistan teams will face each other in Dubai. Be it social media or street-mohalla… this match is discussed everywhere. The reason is the same, whenever these two teams clash, then a few incidents make these matches memorable. EBNW Story highlights these moments from six interesting matches:
Chetan Sharma’s last over, Miandad’s six on the last ball
Year 1986, the place UAE’s Sharjah and Trophy Asia Cup… although then it was named Australasia Cup.
36 years ago, Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad played such an innings, which gives sleepless nights to many even today. The final was being played between India and Pakistan. India batted first and gave a target of 246. Took 7 wickets too, but Javed Miandad stood as a wall. He also hit a century. Now it was the turn of the last over, which was handed over to Chetan Sharma.
Now the full story of this over
1st ball: Miandad tries to take 2 runs and Wasim Akram is run out. 10 runs needed off 5 balls to win.
2nd ball: Javed Miandad hits a boundary at mid wicket.
Third ball: Miandad took a run on the third ball.
Fourth ball: Chetan Sharma hit the ball on the fourth ball and Pakistan lost 9 wickets.
Fifth ball: Batsman takes a single and Miandad comes to the crease.
Last Ball: 4 runs needed off one ball. Chetan Sharma bowled a full toss and Miandad hit a six on the leg side to give Pakistan the match.
2. Saba Karim and Rajesh Chauhan won amidst stone pelting
The year was 1997. India was on a tour of Pakistan. The Indian team had to face defeat in the first ODI. The second match was played on 30 September 1997 at the National Stadium in Karachi. Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar won the toss and elected to bat. Shahid Afridi scored 72 runs and Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 74 runs.
Suddenly the spectators sitting in the stadium started commotion. The crowd became uncontrollable and started pelting stones. The Indian team walked out of the field. By then Pakistan had scored 265 for four in 47.2 overs and their innings was considered to have ended here.
After some time the match started again. India had to score 266 runs in 47 overs. Sachin and Ganguly together gave a quick start of 71 runs. Sachin got out after scoring 21 runs. Ganguly (89) and Vinod Kambli (53) added 98 runs, but Azhar (6) and Ajay Jadeja (8) were dismissed early. However, Robin Singh (31 not out), Saba Karim (26 runs) shared a 62-run partnership to take India to the door of victory.
Karim was bowled by Waqar Younis, after that India needed eight runs in Saqlain’s last over to win and Rajesh Chauhan was in front. Given Saqlain’s form and Chauhan’s batting, the target looked daunting, but Chauhan eased the target with a brilliant six off Saqlain’s second ball at mid-wicket, then gave India an incredible victory off the third ball.
3. A four struck 24 years ago had given victory to the Indian team
24 years ago in 1998, the third match of the Best of Three Final of the Independence Cup was being played in Dhaka. Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat. For Pakistan, the pair of Ejaz Ahmed and Saeed Anwar added 230 runs for the third wicket and the Indian team came on the back foot. PAK team scored 314 runs in 48 overs for the loss of 5 wickets. At that time no team had chased such a big score.
Chasing a big target, the Indian team got off to a great start. Tendulkar and Ganguly added 71 runs in just 8 overs, but Tendulkar was dismissed by Shahid Afridi. Ganguly continued his brilliant batting and completed the century. Robin Singh, who came to support him, also added 82 runs, but as soon as he was dismissed, there was a flurry of wickets. One after the other the Indian batsmen got out and returned to the pavilion. In the match of 48 overs, the Indian team scored 306 runs for the loss of 7 wickets till the end of 47 overs.
India needed 9 runs to win in the last over with Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Javagal Srinath at the crease. Meanwhile, Saqlain Mushtaq brought the last over. Kanitkar took a run on the first ball and Srinath came to the crease. On the second and third balls too, Srinath stole two runs each. During this he wanted to hit a big shot and Pakistani players also dropped his catches. Srinath took a run off the fourth ball. Now 3 runs were needed from two balls to win. Saqlain bowled the ball near Kanitkar’s feet and he swung the bat and hit a brilliant boundary at mid-wicket to give Team India victory.
4. First T20 World Cup, India won the first match by ball-out
The first T20 World Cup was played in 2007. This World Cup was happening in South Africa. In this, India and Pakistan met in the first league match and then in the final. Batting first, India scored 141 runs in the league match. This score was not enough. Thanks to good bowling, India restricted Pakistan to 141. After this the result of the match came out by ball-out.
There were three throws from India. These three throws were done by Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa. All three of India’s throws went on the wicket. Three throws were also made from Pakistan’s side, but none of their throws hit the wicket and Team India won the match.
New captain Dhoni made India world champion in 2007
After the group match in the 2007 T20 World Cup, the two teams once again met in the final. India won the toss in the match and decided to bat first. Team India’s opener Gautam Gambhir played a blistering innings of 75 runs in 54 balls. He hit 8 fours and two sixes during his innings. Apart from him, Rohit Sharma scored 30 runs in 16 balls.
India scored 157 runs in 20 overs for the loss of 5 wickets. Chasing the target, Pakistan had a very poor start. Pakistan lost their 6 wickets for 77 runs, but Misbah-ul-Haq took the match till the last over. In this over, Pakistan needed 13 runs to win, but Misbah was dismissed for 43 and India won the match by 5 runs.
With this, Team India also became the winner of the first T20 World Cup. Joginder Sharma came to bowl the last over in this match. Joginder became a star with just one match. This young bowler was known every child of India.