15 years on: Rajesh Chauhan's last-over six remembered

In 1986 India had no answer to Javed Miandadrsquos lastball six off Chetan Sharma which clinched the Australasia Cup for Pakistan in Sharjah But in terms of IndoPak cricket history Rajesh Chauhanrsquos six in the last over to help India win the second game of the 1997 Wills Challenge Cup in Karachi probably comesclosest to Miandadrsquos feat India captain Sachin Tendulkar coach Madal Lal left manager A Salim and Sourav Ganguly right are stunned as spectators indulge in stonepelting during the ODI against Pak at Karachi on September 30 1997 PicAFPTomorrow will be exactly 15 years for that game which was marred by severalstone pelting incidents that forced then India captain Sachin Tendulkar to take his team off the field after the fourth incident in the48th overAs a result India had to surpass Pakistanrsquos score of 265 in 47 overs India were touring Pakistan for the first time in eight years mdash after Tendulkarrsquos debut series in 198990Though the tourists lost the first game in Hyderabad their confidence was high because they came in from Toronto where they had comprehensively beaten Rameez Rajarsquos team to win the Sahara CupIn a documentary shown on BBC Shahid Afridi remembers telling Debasis Mohanty in response to the India seamerrsquos glares in Toronto ldquoson remember you have to visit Pakistan soonrdquo Afridi didnrsquot spare the whip and smashed 72 off 56 balls before being caught by Abey Kuruvilla on the boundary off Nilesh Kulkarni Rajesh Chauhan picgetty imagesThe Mumbai leftarm spinner had a good game just like the previous one in Hyderabad where he claimed three wickets of the five Pakistani wickets to fall albeit for a lost cause ldquoI was happy because unlike Toronto where the ball swung a lot these wickets suited me Yes I got two wickets in the Karachi game but what I cherish more is the win These are memories that stay with you foreverrdquo said Kulkarni who also got rid of the dangerous Ijaz AhmedThere was also a hostile crowd to cope with and the Indian fieldsmen on the boundary were at the receiving end of some stones It is believed match referee Ranjan Madugalle told Tendulkar that he would be justified in walking off if there was another incident After a stone was aimed at Ganguly the captain led his team offMoin disagreed Moin Khan in the documentary said Tendulkar didnrsquot make the right decision but then his players were subjected to some rough physical treatmentOn the 198990 tour the Karachi ODI had to be abandoned after crowd reacted aggressively to Javed Miandad being adjudged leg before wicket to Manoj PrabhakarMeanwhile Kulkarni was ldquonot frightenedrdquo but ldquoconcernedrdquoThe prolific opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly gave India a 71run start before Ganguly 89 and Vinod Kambli 53 put on 98Gangulyrsquos dismissal was followed by three quick wickets Kambli Azharuddin and Jadeja before Robin Singh and Saba Karim put on 62 for the sixth wicketSuper Waqar Waqar Younis conceded only two runs in the penultimate over and India had to score eight to win off the final over bowled by Saqlain with four wickets in hand The ball had to be changed and that probably was a turning point Obviously Saqlain didnrsquot relish the challenge of bowling with a seminew ballChauhan says in the documentary ldquoI just wanted to somehow connect bat to ball It wouldnrsquot have mattered if I got out as long as we got one run to get Robin Singh on strikerdquo Chauhan stepped out to Saqlain and made his delivery look like a full toss by clubbing it over the ropes on the onside for sixldquoI knew the ball would travel by the way it came off the batrdquo added Chauhan Robin Singh who played splendidly for his 31 hit the winning runs Kulkarni was a relieved man After all he was all padded up ready to walk out at the fall of another wicket