In response to the Wisden Almanack, as talked about by ESPNcricinfo, “regardless of the sizable South Asian expat inhabitants in Toronto, solely 750 turned up for the rain-interrupted sport”.
Those that cancelled their plans to come back to the bottom, presumably after noticing the climate forecast for the day, should have rued their luck as Sachin Tendulkar performed an entertaining run-a-ball knock of 89 to steer India’s eight-wicket win.
After rain and moist outfield delayed the beginning of the match, it was lowered to a 33-overs-a-side affair and India captain Tendulkar had no hesitation in deciding to bowl first after successful the toss.
Pakistan got a good begin off 44 runs by openers Saeed Anwar (46) and Aamer Sohail (12); however Javagal Srinath bowled a artful spell of quick bowling to take 3 for 23, after which Anil Kumble took over together with his spell of three for 32.
Solely Ijaz Ahmed (35) put up some resistance for Pakistan, whereas Venkatesh Prasad assisted fellow pacer Srinath nicely by claiming two wickets (2 for 38) as Pakistan scored 170 for 9.
The Pakistan bowling assault, which had the legendary tempo duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, had no solutions to Tendulkar’s brilliance, who added 108 runs for the second wicket with Rahul Dravid (39) that took the steam out of Pakistan’s assault.
Mohammad Azharuddin then scored an aesthetic 30 not out off 29 balls to associate Tendulkar. The pair added unbeaten 65 runs to take India to victory with 3.1 overs to spare.
