"They Wrote India As Winners On The Cup": How Pakistan Overcame Odds To Upset India

India and Pakistan had played quite a few matches to savour. Among them will be the one-off ODI which was hosted by India as they invited Pakistan to mark their Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The exhibition contest, played in the right spirit, saw a lot of footfall from the eminent personalities including the likes of Imran Khan.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was leading the side, recalled the drama which unfolded during the contest on his YouTube channel and how his side upset the hosts. Pakistan were set a target of 293 runs to chase with Yuvraj Singh top-scoring with 78 runs. The former Pakistan captain said that such a big target was never chase at Eden Gardens so the organisers had written India’s name as winners in the inning break itself.

“India had invited Pakistan for the celebrations of platinum jubilee of BCCI. It was organised in a grand style. Former players from Pakistan were invited, politicians were also there. Imran Khan was there. BCCI had invited all Indian captains. When the first innings ended, they made them take rounds of the ground in small batches,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.

“So there was a lot of pressure for that match. BCCI had arranged for a big trophy for the winners. India won the toss and batted first. They scored 292 for six. 293 was never chased before there. I remember they wrote India as the winners of the platinum jubilee cup. They were so confident because they had a very good team. India always had a good team. That score had never been chased there before so they were confident of winning. The celebrations began at lunchtime,” he added.

However, Pakistan overcame every odds, with Salman Butt who was struggling with a cramp playing a match-winning knock of 108 runs off 130 balls. He was also well supported by Shoaib Malik, who scored 61 runs off 55 deliveries with Inzamam himself scoring 75 off as many deliveries, to help the visitors chase down the total with six balls to spare.

In his video, Inzamam also applauded the crowd at Eden Gardens for the kind of support they show for the home team, coming out in large numbers.