A Memory and More

Long back I had written a post about India vs Zimbabwe match in 1996 World Cup. This match was the predecessor of a great match, something etched in the memories of all Indian cricket fans alike. I am talking about India vs Pakistan at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. It was only the second time India was meeting Pakistan in World Cup and the atmosphere was intense like never before. Wasim Akram, the captain of Pakistan team in this edition of World Cup pulled out of this knock out match as he had suffered an injury and handed over the captaincy to Aamir Sohail, who at that point of time was one half of the then best opening partnership in the world(with Saeed Anwar). The match started in a dull fashion, with Sachin Tendulkar after a slow start got bowled to a relatively unknown bowler Ata Ur Rahman( I remember that instance distinctly because after that I had gone out to play). Much had happened by the time I came back. Navjot Singh Sidhu had made 93 runs, Azhar and Kambli had chipped in with useful 20s but the greatest blow to Pakistan came from the Man of the Match of the previous match, Ajay Jadeja. He blasted 45 runs off just 25 balls and plundered them mostly off Waqar Younis, who gave away 40 runs in his last two overs. India finished its innings at 287/8. Now the match seemed in India's pocket because such high scores were rarely chased then.

But Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail had different plans. They ripped Indian bowling apart in the opening overs scoring 84 runs off the first10. The required run rate was barely above 5 and Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail were playing like a T20 match. Then Srinath struck getting Anwar out, but Pakistan were still cruising with Aamir Sohail probably playing the most important innings in his life.

After completing his 50, he came down the track to hit Venkatesh Prasad for a boundary at extra cover. But, then he did something he shouldn't have done. He pointed his bat towards the region mocking Venkatesh Prasad, probably because prior to that delivery, Prasad had moved a fielder from that very point. The very next ball he tried to pull, but this time Prasad got better of him. Sohail was bowled. The house erupted like anything. Never had I seen such jubilation and celebration, be it at the crowd or at my home. Here's the video clip.

Pakistan never recovered from the Prasad jolt. Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam departed early. But the forever nemesis of Indian team, Javed Miandad was still at the crease. My father kept on reminding me of his famous last ball six off Chetan Sharma at Sharjah. With him in the middle, anything was possible. He got run out at a score of 38 and was the 8th wicket to fall. This match turned out to be his last in international cricket and a career spanning 3 decades came to a halt at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. No doubt, one of the best batsmen of world cricket deserved a better goodbye.

All did not get over with the match. Effigies of Wasim Akram were burnt for allegedly throwing away the match and not playing. In Pakistan, a 22 year old first shot his TV and then himself after watching the match. Miandad blamed Akram for handing over the captaincy to a relatively inexperienced player (Aamer Sohail) and not to him. The party for India got over very soon as well. A few days later, India lost in the Semi Finals to Sri Lanka in a match every Indian would like to forget. If this match was the zenith of the '96 World Cup, the semi finals was the nadir for India in this tournament, all symbolised by Vinod Kambli's tears.