The year 2000 marks the starting of a new era in Indian cricket as Sourav Ganguly took on a struggling side from Sachin Tendulkar. With CBI investigating a number of top Indian cricketers including former captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar for their alleged involvement in match-fixing during that time, Ganguly led the team to Asia Cup in Dhaka.
India demolished their neighbour Bangladesh in the first match riding on an unbeaten knock of 135 runs from Ganguly. But they failed to keep the momentum in the next match against Sri Lanka. India suffered a disappointing loss by 71 runs against the islanders.
India suffered a heartbreaking exit from the tournament after losing their next match to Pakistan but the encounter on 3 June 2000 also marked the last international appearance for Azharuddin and Jadeja. India’s 1992, 1996 and 1999 World Cup captain was banned for life later that year while Jadeja was given a five-year ban after BCCI found them guilty of match-fixing.
In what turned out to be Jadeja and Azharuddin’s final appearance in Indian colours, batting first, Pakistan posted a huge 295 on the board powered by Mohammad Yousuf’s unbeaten ton (100* off 112 balls) and splendid knocks from opener Saeed Anwar (43 off 35 balls) and skipper Moin Khan (46 off 47 balls). For India, Anil Kumble scalped three wickets and Ajit Agarkar and Amit Bhandari got two wickets each.
In response, Sourav Ganguly left early for just 8 runs. Then Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid added 25 and 26 runs respectively to the scoresheet. Mohammad Azharuddin also failed to settle at the crease and headed to the dugout for 1. Then Ajay Jadeja took charge of the game and played some impressive strokes registering 93 runs in 103 deliveries. But there was no one at the non-striker’s end to assist him and India lost the game by 44 runs which ensured their elimination from the tournament. Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq picked up 4 crucial wickets and played a key role in the victory run.
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