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{{use dmy dates|date=February 2013}}
The '''2nd SAARC cricket tournament''' was held in [[Dhaka]], [[Bangladesh]] in December 1994. Teams from [[Bangladesh]], [[India]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Sri Lanka]] participated in the tournament. Bangladesh, still an associate member of the [[International Cricket Council|ICC]], played their full strength national side, while their neighbors sent their 'A' teams for the tournament. India won the cup after beating Bangladesh in the final. All the matches were 50 overs affair.

==The teams==
Following the disappointing performances of Bangladesh in the [[1994 ICC Trophy|ICC Trophy]] early that year, there were a number of changes in the team. To begin with [[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] took over the captaincy from [[Faruk Ahmed]]. In the batting line up, the two youngsters [[Naimur Rahman]] and [[Al Sahariar]] replaced [[Faruk Ahmed|Faruk]] and Selim Shahed. Bigger changes occurred in the bowling department. [[Anisur Rahman (cricketer)|Anisur Rahman]] and [[Sajal Chowdhury]] emerged as the new ball bowlers, while [[Mohammad Rafique (cricketer)|Mohammad Rafique]] became the new spin bowling partner for [[Enamul Haque (cricketer, born 1966)|Enamul Haque]].

The Indian team was led by [[Pravin Amre]]. Apart from him, there were a number of players (like [[Sourav Ganguly]], [[Rahul Dravid]], [[Vikram Rathour]], [[Venkatesh Prasad]], [[Rajesh Chauhan]]) who either had played for the Indian National team, or were on the brink of wearing national colors. Two of them, Ganguly and Dravid, went on to become Indian captains.

Pakistan cricket was passing through a difficult period at that time, as allegations of match fixing were first brought up. At the same time, the board recalled veteran [[Rameez Raja]] to lead the 'A' side. [[Chandika Hathurusingha]] was the captain of the Lankan outfit.

==Scores in brief==
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#efefef;"
! Date
! Match

!
!
! Result
|-
|| 22 Dec. || Bangladesh v Pakistan|| Bangladesh 167/8 ([[Enamul Haque (cricketer, born 1966)|Moni]] 43*)||Pakistan 168/9 ([[Ijaz Ahmed jnr]] 48, [[Naeem Ashraf]] 44, [[Anisur Rahman (cricketer)|Anisur Rahman]] 3/29)|| Pakistan wins by 1 wicket||
|-
|| 23 Dec.|| India V Sri Lanka || India 182 ( [[Rahul Dravid|Dravid]] 44, [[Vijay Yadav (cricketer)|Yadav]] 42, [[Russel Arnold|Arnold]] 3/35)||Sri Lanka 138 ([[Venkatesh Prasad|Prasad]] 3/20, [[Utpal Chatterjee|Chatterjee]] 3/20) || India wins by 44 runs||
|-
|| 24 Dec. || Bangladesh V Sri Lanka || Sri Lanka 167 ([[Chandika Hathurusingha|Hathurusingha]]) 47, [[Anisur Rahman (cricketer)|Anisur Rahman]] 4/29, [[Enamul Haque (cricketer, born 1966)|Moni]] 2/29)||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 168/5 ([[Athar Ali Khan]] 32, [[Minhajul Abedin]] 30*) || Bangladesh wins by 5 wickets ||
|-
|25 Dec||India V Pakistan||Pakistan 120 ([[Prashant Vaidya]]) 3/23, [[Utpal Chatterjee|Chatterjee]] 3/28)||India 123/6||India wins by 4 wickets||
|-
|26 Dec.||Bangladesh Vs India||[[Bangladesh cricket team|Bangladesh]] 172 ([[Aminul Islam (cricketer, born 1968)|Aminul Islam]] 64, [[Venkatesh Prasad|Prasad]] 3/25, [[Prashant Vaidya|Vaidya]] 3/35)||India 171 ([[Vikram Rathour]] 35, [[Rahul Dravid]] 33, [[Mohammad Rafique (cricketer)|Rafique]] 3/25, [[Anisur Rahman (cricketer)|Anisur Rahman]] 3/28) ||Bangladesh wins by 1 run||
|-
|27 Dec.||Pakistan vs Sri Lanka||Sri Lanka 147 ([[Russel Arnold]] 47, Zafar Iqbal 5/29)||Pakistan 148/9 R. ([[Rameez Raja|Raja]] 59, [[Zahid Fazal]] 41, [[Upul Chandana]] 4/22)|| Pakistan wins by 1 wicket||
|-
|28 Dec.||India vs Bangladesh (Final)||India 216/6 ([[Pravin Amre]] 88*, [[Sourav Ganguly]] 39, [[Rahul Dravid]] 37)||Bangladesh 164 ([[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] 66, Prasad 4/11)||India wins by 52 runs||
|}

==League matches==
India, Pakistan, and the host Bangladesh all finished the League matches with two wins and one defeat each, but Pakistan lost out on net run rate calculation.

The slow and low bounce of the pitches made stroke play extremely difficult. Nevertheless, there were really close matches. Wicketkeeper [[Jahangir Alam (cricketer, born 1973)|Jahangir Alam]] was the villain for the local side in their last ball defeat at the hands of Pakistan. With the scores tied, he conceded a bye in the last delivery to hand over the match to the visitors. Jahangir, however, made amends in the match against India by stumping [[Venkatesh Prasad|Prasad]] of [[Mohammad Rafique (cricketer)|Rafique]]. Earlier, [[Aminul Islam (cricketer, born 1968)|Aminul Islam]] Bulbul lived up to his reputation as a fine player of spin bowling by scoring a defiant 64 and leading a late middle order recovery.

Earlier, the holiday crowd on Christmas Day went home disappointed as the clash of the titans, India vs Pakistan, failed to produce a classic encounter. [[Utpal Chatterjee|Chatterjee]] and [[Prashant Vaidya|Vaidya]] took three wickets a piece to bowl the Paks out for only 120. [[Venkatesh Prasad]], the best bowler of the tournament went wicketless, but bowling miserly he conceded only 13 runs from his nine overs. In the end, India won by four wickets, but actually it was much more convincing than that.

For India, [[Rahul Dravid]] was the most consistent batsmen. The spinners did well, but the real high point for India in this tournament was the bowling of the two medium pacers, Prasad and Vaidya. For Pakistan, skipper [[Rameez Raja|Raja]] and [[Zahid Fazal]] helped their team win the vital match against Sri Lanka, but they could not improve their net run rate enough to reach the finals. [[Zafar Iqbal (cricketer, born 1969)|Zafar Iqbal]], their most impressive bowler, only played in the last match against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was very disappointing, although [[Russel Arnold]] emerged as a talented allround cricketer.

==The final==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:80%;"
|-
! style="text-align:left;" |
!| India 'A'
!| Bangladesh
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Vikram Rathour]]
||[[Athar Ali Khan]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Sourav Ganguly]]
||[[Jahangir Alam (cricketer, born 1973)|Jahangir Alam]] (WK)
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Rahul Dravid]]
||[[Al Sahariar]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Pravin Amre]] (Captain)
||[[Aminul Islam (cricketer, born 1968)|Aminul Islam]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Vijay Yadav (cricketer)|Vijay Yadav]] (WK)
||[[Minhajul Abedin]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Sairaj Bahutule]]
||[[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] (Captain)
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Prashant Vaidya]]
||[[Enamul Haque (cricketer, born 1966)|Enamul Haq]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Utpal Chatterjee]]
||[[Mohammad Rafique (cricketer)|Mohammad Rafique]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Salil Ankola]]
||[[Saiful Islam (cricketer, born 1969)|Saiful Islam]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Rajesh Chauhan]]
||[[Sajal Chowdhury]]
|- style="text-align:left;"
||
||[[Venkatesh Prasad]]
||[[Anisur Rahman (cricketer)|Anisur Rahman]]
|}

Unfortunately, the final was a rather one-sided affair. The game was effectively over after [[Venkatesh Prasad]] destroyed the Bangladesh top order to leave the hosts struggling at 4/31. Earlier, skipper [[Pravin Amre|Amre]] had played the best knock of the tournament. Under pressure, after scoring only 14 runs in the three league games, the Indian captain answered his critics in an emphatic manner. Nimble use of foot and crisp timing were the highlights of his match winning innings of 88*. [[Sourav Ganguly|Ganguly]], playing his only game in the trophy stroked a classy 39, while [[Rahul Dravid|Dravid]] contributed 37.

Skipper [[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] led a spirited recovery by sharing 54 with [[Minhajul Abedin]] for the fifth wicket, but by the time [[Sairaj Bahutule]] dismissed the Bangladesh captain for 66, the game was effectively over. [[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram's]] effort was gallant but fruitless.

==Top batsmen of the tournament==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:80%;"
|-
!colspan=4|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Name
!| Matches
!| Runs
!| Average
!| Highest score
!| 50
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Pravin Amre]] (Ind)
|| 4
|| 102
|| 34.00
||88*
|| 1
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Rahul Dravid]] (Ind)
|| 4
|| 130
|| 32.50
|| 44
||0
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Akram Khan (cricketer)|Akram Khan]] (Ban)
|| 4
||129
||32.25
||66
||1
|}

==Top bowlers of the tournament==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:80%;"
|-
!colspan=4|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Name
!| Matches
!| Runs
!| Wickets
!| Average
!| Best
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Venkatesh Prasad]] (Ind)
||4
||69
||10
||6.90
||4/11
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Anisur Rahman (cricketer)|Anisur Rahman]] (Ban)
||4
||132
||11
||12.00
||4/29
|}

==Top all-rounders of the tournament==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:80%;"
|-
!colspan=2|  
!colspan=4| Batting
!colspan=4| Bowling
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Name
!| Matches
!| Runs
!| Average
!| Highest score
!| 50
!| Runs
!| Wickets
!| Average
!| Best
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Russel Arnold]] (SL)
||3
||97
||32.33
||47
||0
||76
||6
||12.67
||3/35
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Enamul Haque (cricketer, born 1966)|Enamul Haq]] (Ban)
||4
||74
||24.67
||43*
||0
||154
||5
||30.80
||2/29
|}
<ref>INDIAN CRICKET 1995 (Compiled by P.V. Vaidyanathan), (Kasturi & Sons Limited, Madras, India)</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:SAARC Quadrangular, 1994}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=1994 in cricket, 1994 in Bangladeshi sport, 1995 in cricket, 1995 in Bangladeshi sport, Bangladeshi cricket in the 20th century, International cricket competitions from 1994–95 to 1997
|description=
}}

[[Category:South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation|Quadrangular, 1994]]
[[Category:1994 in cricket]]
[[Category:1994 in Bangladeshi sport]]
[[Category:1995 in cricket]]
[[Category:1995 in Bangladeshi sport]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi cricket in the 20th century]]
[[Category:International cricket competitions from 1994–95 to 1997]]

1994 95 SAARC Quadrangular - Revision history

MetaBOT at 15:43, 8 July 2023