Pakistan led the five-match series by two to one before the fourth ODI at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club on 19th September.
There, they put the overall result of the series beyond doubt with an emphatic display, even though they had lost the toss and been invited to bat.
It proved to be a serious miscalculation by Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Although his bowlers enjoyed early success with the dismissal of Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi was in no mood to hang around. He put on 141 for the second wicket with captain Aamer Sohail, scoring the lion’s share of them before he fell for 109. He took just 94 balls, and hit six sixes and seven fours.
Sohail (46) went on to add 35 with Inzamam ul-Haq. Inzamam, then, combined with Saleen Malik in a fifth-wicket stand worth 105.
Inzamam, who eventually fell for 78, hit two sixes and seven fours, while Malik made a more sedate 39. In the end, Pakistan reached 316/6, meaning that India needed to score at over six an hour if they were to win.
By the time that both Sourav Ganguly and Nayan Mongia were both back in the pavilion, they were already adrift of the required rate. Navjot Sidhu and Azharuddin provided brief hope with a third-wicket partnership of 78 before Azharuddin fell for 40. Four overs later, Sidhu to departed, top-scoring for India with 62, including six fours.
The rest of the batting failed to rise to the occasion as wickets fell at regular occasions. The running between the wickets was also poor, and several cheap run outs did nothing for the Indian cause.
In the end, India were bowled out for 182 in the 47th over.They had been beaten by 134 runs.
Saqlain Mushtaq was the best Pakistani bowlers with 3-20, whilst Sohail finished with 2-38.