18th September 1997: Ganguly Fifer Derails Pakistan in Toronto

On this day in 1997, Sourav Ganguly’s career-best bowling figures of 5 for 16 helped India bowl out Pakistan – chasing 183 for a win – for just 148 and register a 34-run win in Toronto, Canada. The win also helped India take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the six-match One-Day International series.

Sent into bat in conditions ripe for fast bowling, the trio of Aqib Javed, Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Akram had the Indians in all sorts of strife at 23 for 3 in no time. Rahul Dravid (25) hung around with Mohammad Azharuddin (67) for a 66-run stand for the fourth wicket before falling to Akram.

Azhar though held one end up to record a crucial half-century and with a quickfire 29-ball 32 in the end by Robin Singh, India reached 182 for 6 in their 50 overs.



Pakistan started off their chase in grand fashion with Saeed Anwar (22) and Shahid Afridi (44) adding 52 runs for the opening wicket. They looked in cruise control at 103 for 3 before Ganguly struck.

With his seemingly innocuous medium-pace, Ganguly more than made up for his earlier batting failure. He picked up the wickets of Ijaz Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Hasan Raza, Moin Khan and Javed in a riveting spell to return figures of 10-3-16-5 as Pakistan were bundled out in just 36.5 overs.

Ganguly was adjudged Man of the Match for his career-best effort.