1994 Austral-Asia cup was a six-team affair involving four teams from Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand from down under. Alongside India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka the other Asian nation was UAE making their ODI debut. After a group stage involving two groups of three teams of each finally, India, Pakistan, Australia, and New Zealand qualified for the semi-final. India beat Australia in the first semi-final and awaiting the winner of Pakistan and New Zealand for the final.
On 20th April 1994, Gavin Larsen won the toss and elected to field, a decision he must have repented later. Pakistan started well as the openers Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail added 57 runs before Anwar got dismissed for 37 runs. But for New Zealand, this was the last bit of success for a long time.
Inzamam-ul-Haq came to bat and joined Sohail to create a wonderful partnership. The duo dominated the bowlers completely and never missed a chance to play their shots. Inzamam batted with a strike rate above 100 whereas Sohail’s strike rate was around 92. The boundary count was 15 and 13 respectively for Inzamam and Sohail as both of them reached their centuries. The partnership crossed 100 and then 150, then 200 and eventually it crossed 224, the then world record set by Allan Border and Dean Jones against Sri Lanka. Finally, they became the first duo to build a 250 runs partnership. They were looking like inseparable while batting. But finally, they got separated after putting up 263 together. The team total was 320 when Sohail got dismissed. Inzamam remained unbeaten for 137 as Pakistan ended with 328/2 in their 50 overs.
In response, New Zealand was never in the hunt. There were the fifties from Adam Parore and Shane Thomson. But Pakistani bowlers were too efficient and ensured a win by 62 runs to qualify for the final to play against India. The record remained unbroken till the summer of 1998 when India’s Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja scored 273 against Zimbabwe in Cuttack.
