In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, the first of two parts, Roger Seymour looks at an international cricket tournament staged in, of all places, Toronto, Canada. Introduction The Sahara Cup – also referred to as the ‘Friendship Cup’ – was an international cricket tournament played between India and Pakistan from 1996 to 1998 in Toronto, Canada. The series was a blending of wars, politics, an intense rivalry, an elite venue, emerging stars, the contemporary sports agents, television and satellites.
The origin of this unique event? It can be argued that it began in the Kashmir region, which separates India and Pakistan, and has been in dispute since the partition of British India into the two countries in 1947. India is claiming the entire former British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir based on the Instrument of Accession signed by its then ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, in October, 1947. Pakistan is claiming most of the region based on its Muslim-majority.
(A portion of the north-east section of the territory is also a source of dispute between India and China.) The land battle sparked three wars and several armed skirmishes which resulted in very limited cricket encounters between the two territories. In fact, between 1952 and 1990, there were only ten Test series between the bitter rivals, two of which were played in the 1950s.
None were held between 1960/61 and 1978/79, due to two wars in 1965 and 1971. After a flurry of six (or par.