Once again the former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad recently talked about the famous heated moment with the Pakistan skipper Aamer Sohail in the quarter-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996.
While India vs Pakistan clash is always a high-voltage game, it becomes more exciting if they meet in the knock-out stages of any tournament, especially in the ICC tournaments. During the quarter-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996, India vs Pakistan match was played at Bengaluru.
After India scored 287/8 (50 overs), Pakistan openers, skipper Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar provided a good start with the 87 runs partnership. Though Anwar was dismissed on 48 runs, captain Sohail was building up that innings confidently.
After completing his half-century, the Pakistan skipper hit a four to Prasad and then he was involved in the heated argument with the Indian pacer and mocked him to bring the ball from the boundary. On the very next ball, Prasad bowled Sohail (55 runs) which became the turning point of that match. Finally, Pakistan scored 248/9 (50 overs) while India reached the semi-final after winning that match by 39 runs.
My blood was really boiling, and we needed a wicket: Venkatesh Prasad
Since then, Prasad has always heard about that match when people see him. Talking about that incident, Prasad claimed that his blood was boiling at that moment while the Indian team was eagerly looking for a wicket.
Prasad said on a YouTube video of FanCode, “There’s not even a single day that goes by without anybody, whoever sees me, come what may, would definitely ask me, every single day from the last 24 years.
“He should’ve just gone back to his crease probably after getting that, but there was some exchange of words and a gesture that he made which didn’t really go well. Obviously, with the entire nation and spectators who were watching, and of course, with me as well. My blood was really boiling and we needed a wicket.”
Prasad also admitted that he was lucky to escape from getting penalised or banned for his gesture in that incident.
In that game, Prasad finished with the bowling figures of 10-0-45-3, which was the best bowling figures in that entire game. In his international career, Prasad was a very successful bowler against Pakistan as he took his most international wickets against Pakistan (54 wickets).