1998 'Friendship' Cup

The 1998 'Friendship Cup' , also known as the 1998 Sahara 'Friendship Cup'  for sponsorship reasons, was a One Day International cricket series which took place between 12 and 20 September 1998. The tournament was held in Canada, which was seen as neutral territory for India and Pakistan to play each other. The tournament was won by Pakistan, who won the series 4–1.

Squads
A provisional Pakistan squad for the series was announced on 30 August 1998. Saleem Malik was recalled, and Wasim Akram, who had to fulfill playing commitments to his club side Lancashire, and Saqlain Mushtaq, were excluded. Mushtaq was included in the list of three reserve players. The other two were Murtaza Hussain and Fazl-e-Akbar. An injured Younis was later omitted when the final squad was announced a few days later.

India split its squad into two, sending one led by Ajay Jadeja to compete in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. That squad included Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman, while the squad that travelled to Canada was led by Mohammad Azharuddin and included other first team players such as Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad. Two members of the team that played at the Commonwealth Games were sent to Canada after they failed to progress past the group stages at the Games. Jadeja came into the side for the fourth match of the series when his team was trailing 1–2, and Tendulkar for the fifth and final match.