Known to be one of the coolest players on the field of play, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was involved in one of the biggest fights in a game of cricket. This is a story about Inzamam’s skirmish with a spectator during an ODI series in Toronto in Canada.
When & Where did the Inzamam-ul-Haq spat with the fans happen?
The fracas between Inzamam-ul-Haq and a couple of the spectators broke out on September 14, 1997 in Pakistan’s series against India.
Called the Sahara Friendship Cup, this was the second edition of the series between India and Pakistan played in Toronto, Canada, hosted at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.
This was the second ODI of the series and India were chasing Pakistan’s 116 when the fight ensued.
What transpired in the Inzamam fight with the Toronto fan?
There are differing versions of this fracas but the crux of the matter is that a spectator in the crowd hurled insults at Inzamam – and other Pakistan players – during this game. After enduring that for a while, Inzamam’s patience snapped and he charged into the crowd with a bat in his hand and had it not been for the security and other fans, things could have gone really awry.
According to reports, the spectator in question, Shiv Kumar Thind had carried a megaphone inside the stadium – a strange concession if one were to look back in today’s day and age of security concerns around the world.
With the help of that megaphone, Thind had continuously railed at Inzamam, calling him various forms of potato (or aloo) in a derogatory manner of making fun of his girth.
The usually mild-mannered Inzy – as he was fondly called – had finally lost it and charged into the crowd during the first official drinks break of the Indian batting innings. A skirmish broke out before the security intervened and pulled Inzamam out of the crowd.
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Just as Inzamam was led out of the stand, Thind was seen running down the stands in the direction of the player too with video grabs
of the event suggesting he had allegedly hurled the megaphone at the player.
This enraged Inzamam even more, as he picked up a nearby bat, slamming it once on the ground and went after the spectator once again. This time around he and the spectator were both held back and an even more serious incident was averted.
According to eyewitness accounts, there were two arrests made when the incident turned into an ugly fight between some of the spectators. One of the spectators was thrown on to the field by some of the others in the same stand and landed on his face.
One of the questions that is often asked is how Inzamam got himself a bat and one of the versions of that it was Pakistani 12th man Mohammad Hussain who had got him a bat during the drinks break.
What happened after the Inzamam-Toronto incident?
The game resumed after a 30-minute break in which Indian coach Madan Lal tried to reason with the spectators and requested them to calm down. Some of the Indian fans themselves asked the rest to allow the game to resume with allegations that the event had occurred to try and get the game abandoned given the strong position that India was in at that stage.
Inzamam-ul-Haq was lucky to have gotten away with a bare rap on the knuckles with the match referee Jackie Hendricks sympathizing with the player for the incident but still banning him for two matches.
Given the seriousness of the incident, things could have really gotten out of hand with some involved in Pakistan cricket noting that it could have led to Inzy suffering a serious injury leading to a pause in his career as well.
Shiv Kumar Thind was allegedly requested by Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin to not file a complaint against Inzamam but he refused. Thind was also arrested by the police for attacking Inzamam with the megaphone while the player was later released on bail.
Charges against each other were dropped while the PCB opted not to penalise its players.
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India, who was chasing 117 for a win, managed to get to their target in 34.4 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the series. They would go on to win it 4-1 with Sourav Ganguly scoring 222 runs and picking up 15 wickets in the series and grabbing the man-of-the-series award.
The series was played one more time, the following year in 1998 and Pakistan won that 4-1.
Inzamam would go on to score more than 20k international runs and lead Pakistan successfully at the highest level of the game.
Shiv Kumar Thind, who had refused to make up with Inzy despite being persuaded by many of the cricketers and those associated with the Pakistan cricket team, later dropped his charges against the batter.
In an interview almost immediately after the incident, Thind had said in an interview with Outlook:
“In the first match we kept calling Salim Malik ‘Budda’. After he got his 50 he raised a fist towards us. We didn’t mind it. We were pulling Inzamam’s leg as well. We called him ‘aloo’. We said ‘don’t keep your hand on the hip’ etc.”
He would also claim his shirt was torn and was bruised in the incident. More importantly, Thind said he felt humiliated because of the treatment meted out to him by someone who was allowed to get away.
Hussain, the 12th man who was allegedly responsible for bringing the bat out, featured in two Tests and 14 ODIs. He would pass away in 2022.
Photo Credit: paddynapper – originally posted to Flickr as INZAMAM UL HAQ