The Friendship Cup 1997 (Part Two)

Feb 14, 2022

The Friendship Cup 1997 (Part Two) Image

India won the second ODI of the 1997 friendship Cup by seven wickets, bowling Pakistan out on 116, and then chasing that score down with more than 16 overs to spare.

Unfortunately, that is not what the match will be remembered for by most people who were there, or who watched it on television.

Thousands of miles away from home, it was a reminder that emotions for fans of both teams could still run high.

Among the crowd that day was Shiv Kumar Thind, a well-known Indian living in Canada. He had been allowed into the stands with a megaphone. Whether that was by accident or design is lost to the annals of history.

He watched and waited until Pakistan took their place in the field, because he had one particular target in mind.

Inzamam ul-Haq was never the most athletic of players, a walking advertisement for the fuller figure. And, when Pakistan came out to field, Thind saw his chance.

With megaphone in hand, Thind began to berate him, calling him fat, telling him to stand up straight, and comparing him to several breeds of potato.

While the crowd were amused, Inzamam was not. After putting up with the abuse for a few minutes, he snapped.

The 12th man suddenly appeared on the boundary with a bat. Following a change in field position, Inzamam found himself standing right in front of his tormentor.

Much to everyone’s amazement, he jumped over a small fence separating the stands and the ground, lunged into the crowd, grabbed the microphone off Thind and started thumping him.

The police quickly broke up the scuffle, but not before Inzamam had got a few lusty blows in, and Thind was ejected from the ground. India team manager Madan Lal took the megaphone, called for peace and order was restored.

Thind was later arrested. He threatened Inzamam and that he would ensure that he never played cricket again.

The cricketing authorities took a more lenient approach, accepting that he had been provoked, although they still slapped Inzamam with a two-match ban.