The Coca-Cola Cup was a tri-nation

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

tournament played in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

in 1998. This was the first cricket tournament in Sharjah to be sponsored by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

and was played under the aegis of the ''Cricketers Benefit Fund Series''. The Round Robin format was followed with each team playing the other two teams twice each. All matches were day and night games and the tournament featured

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

cricket teams. This tournament was the first one in ten years which was held in Sharjah that

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

was not a part of. 24,000 spectators witnessed the final, a record turnout for a match at

Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium The Sharjah Cricket Stadium () is located in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It holds the record for being the venue that hosted the highest number of international matches, 294 matches, up to March 17, 2024. It was originally constructed ...

, where all the matches were played. India won the tournament after losing all their league games against Australia in a reversal of what happened during the ''Pepsi Cup'' (sponsored by Coke's competitor

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

) in India just preceding this tournament, where Australia lost all their league ties to India but beat India in the finals to claim the title. Australia won all their league matches and qualified for the final, while both India and New Zealand had won a game each, which meant that the second finalist was chosen based on a better net run rate. Winners India took home US$40,000 in prize money, while Australia got US$30,000 for being runners up and third place New Zealand got US$15,000.

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

won the man of the tournament award and an

Opel Astra The Opel Astra is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) developed and produced by the German automaker Opel since 1991, currently at its sixth generation. It was first launched in September 1991 as a direct replacement to the Opel Kade ...

that went with the award, apart from winning other awards for most sixes and fastest fifty. Damien Fleming and

Ricky Ponting Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and is the most successful captain in international cricket history, ...

of Australia won the best bowler and best fielder awards respectively.

Group stage

Matches

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Final

Statistics

Most runs

Source:

Most wickets

Source:

Desert Storm

The tournament is best known for Sachin Tendulkar's back to back centuries against Australia (popularly known as 'Desert Storm') - the first helped India qualify for the final based on a better net run rate, and the second, in the finals which was played on Tendulkar's 25th birthday, helped India beat Australia to win the tournament. In lighter vein, Australian bowler

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...

claimed that he had "nightmares" at the thought of bowling to Tendulkar after being dominated by him in the tournament. Tendulkar is credited for single-handedly winning the tournament for India. The last league match, where India played Australia needing to finish with a win or a better net run rate than New Zealand to qualify for the finals, was interrupted by a sandstorm. Tendulkar's hundred following the storm in that match, which ensured that India qualified for the finals, came to be known as the "sandstorm innings" or "Desert Storm". The other Indian player who made a notable contribution in the tournament victory was Sourav Ganguly, whose century against New Zealand resulted in the only Indian victory in the league stage. For Australia,

Michael Bevan Michael Gwyl Bevan (born 8 May 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer. He played as a left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm wrist spin bowler. For several years, he was considered the world's finest One Day International (ODI) ...

made a century in the last league game versus India, which resulted in an Australian victory but couldn't stop India from qualifying for the finals.

References

Notes

Records for most wickets in the tournament

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coca-Cola Cup, 1997 1998 in cricket International cricket competitions from 1997–98 to 2000 Coca-Cola International cricket competitions in the United Arab Emirates