Sahara Cup 1998 : Toronto Diaries (Part III)

MATCH 3 | September 16, 1998

Rahul Dravid tumbles as he fields near the boundary

Saqlain Mushtaq flew in from England and joined the Pakistanis. He had become the de-facto death bowler for them with his sharp off-breaks, sly top spinner and one-of-a-kind doosra. Although Wasim Akram was still with his county- Lancashire in Old Trafford, Pakistan had the look of a very strong team.

Slogans were held up to protest nuclear testing by both nations

Pakistan were powered to a competitive total with the help of a power-packed innings by Inzamam-ul-Haq, who top scored with 81. Chasing a stiff 258 to take a lead in the series, India were bundled out for 180, with none of the batsmen scoring a fifty.

Pakistan 257/5| Inzamam-ul-Haq 81, Ajit Agarkar 2/59

India 180 all out| Javagal Srinath 43, Mohammad Zahid 2/20

Pakistan won by 51 runs | Player of the Match: Inzamam-ul-Haq

By the end of the day, news had come in that India has crashed out of the Commonwealth Games and so too had Pakistan. India was desperate to fly in their key players from Malaysia while their opponents already had their best side in Canada.