Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, who had live witnessed the enchanting face-off between his captain Aamir Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad in the 1996 World Cup, was stunned to see his skipper’s unwanted reaction which led the team’s downfall.
Venkatesh Prasad sweet revenge against Amir Sohail in the quarter-final of the tournament is etched in every fan’s memory. Sohail came out with gun-blazing shot against India as he scored a half-century off 46 balls. But when he decided to show some unprovoked aggression towards Prasad, thing got off for him and the team.
Here is the whole plot, Sohail, after hitting a boundary, walked up to Prasad and pointed his bat at the region in which he had just hit the boundary, presumably saying he would hit a similar shot again. The whole stadium roared with his reaction and pressure build-up on Prasad but he returned with a bang.
The ball went on to hit the off-stump before Sohail’s bat could come down. The Pakistan skipper went out of the field with a regretful face.
Waqar Younis, who recalls the whole episode, said that he was amazed to see Sohail’s behaviour. He explained how the dismissal left a negative impact on the remainder of the innings. Although Saleem Malik and Javed Miandad built 52 runs partnership for the fifth wicket, Pakistan never really recovered from the loss of their two-set openers.
Waqar Younis and his teammates were shocked to see how Aamer Sohail reacted:
“To be very honest, we were shocked by the way he [Sohail] was behaving on the field. He was tonking the ball all over the park, why did he need to do that? I guess, the pressure got to him,” Waqar said on The Greatest Rivalry podcast.
“Inzamam-ul-Haq and Ijaz Ahmed, they went into a shell. And full credit should be given to Anil Kumble, when he came in and Prasad came in for his second spell, he sort of started nipping the ball a little bit. And Pakistan got so much pressure and once we lost Ijaz and Inzamam within an over or so, it became very very difficult,” Waqar said.
Eventually, India won the match by 39 runs to advance to the semifinal.