Four years before Sourav Ganguly unfurled his shirt like a flag at Lord's, the Prince of Kolkata was at the centre of another famous Indian One Day International victory. Like the NatWest final of 2002, this too was the final of a major tournament, and this too was a record-breaking chase.
But the venue was a bit closer to Ganguly’s beloved Kolkata. It was Dhaka and India and Pakistan were playing the Independence Cup final on January 18, 1998 when Ganguly scored 124, one of his best-ever ODI innings (video above).
The best of three finals were tied at 1-1 and when Pakistan rocketed to 314 in 48 overs after they batted first, the result of the match seemed a foregone conclusion. No team had ever chased such a total in ODI history. It was a monstrous target by the standards of the time.
Ganguly thought otherwise. With old friend and opening partner Sachin Tendulkar at the other end, India got off to a blazing start, Tendulkar scoring 41 in just 26 balls. Then Robin Singh and Ganguly combined forces to take India to 250 in just 38 overs, from where victory seemed a near certainty.
But the famed Indian batting collapse of the 1990s struck. Both Ganguly and Singh fell and so did the lower middle order. India were six down before they reached 300. With nine runs required from the last over, Hrishikesh Kanitkar got the biggest moment of his limited international cricketing career, hitting a four off the penultimate ball to seal an incredible win for India.
Relive the incredible tension of those last few minutes below.
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