Waqar Younis Slams Aamer Sohail's Behaviour During The 1996 World Cup Clash Against India
Published - 10 Jul 2020, 05:12 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:31 AM
Former Pakistan paceman Waqar Younis has opened up on heated battle between Aamer Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad in the 1996 World Cup. Pakistan walked into the tournament as the defending champions and met arch-rivals India in the quarter-final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Waqar Younis disclosed having left stunned by their captain’s conduct during the clash.
Pakistan had already lost to India once in World Cups, having met them first in 1992. In 1996, the hosts batted first and put on a stiff 288 to chase from 49 overs for the opposition. Despite beginning their innings brightly, Aamer Sohail’s men could not gun down the target and lost by 39 runs and much of their collapse attributes to their skipper.
In the 15th over, Sohail clattered a boundary to deep point off a wide delivery from Venkatesh Prasad. After hitting it, the southpaw sledged Prasad by pointing a finger and the direction in which he mustered the ball. On the very next ball, the skipper lost his leg stump for 55 from which the visitors could never recover.
We were shocked by the way Aamer Sohail was behaving on the field: Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis admitted that the dressing room were left stunned at Sohail’s behaviour on the field. With him putting the ball regularly for boundaries, there was no requirement of doing what he did. The former Pakistan paceman felt that the pressure got the better of him.
“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 Younis stated as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Younis added that Aamer Sohail was doing precisely what the team needed and along with Saeed Anwar, put on an opening stand of 84 in ten overs. While losing Anwar first was a big blow, the 48-year old cited the loss of Sohail the reason of their downfall.
“He batted superbly, he was looking really good and I think he scored 55 off not many deliveries (55 off 46). And Saeed Anwar also. We lost our first wicket when Pakistan were 85-odd (84) in the first ten overs. We were cruising, and then once we lost Saeed Anwar and then Aamir Sohail straightaway, it just went wrong,”
Full credit should be given to Anil Kumble: Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis hailed the pressure created by the Indian bowlers by coming back into the game. The wicket of Aamer Sohail gave Venkatesh Prasad plenty of confidence that after five overs, he also removed Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-Ul-Haq from the equation through his swing bowling. It left Pakistan further under the pump. The Punjab-born speedster lauded Anil Kumble as well for keeping the pressure going from the other end, claiming three wickets for ten overs in 48 overs.
“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.
Pakistan’s present bowling coach lamented sending their star batsman Javed Miandad at number six and believes he should have batted at four instead. At the same time, Waqar Younis hailed the competitive nature of that game and declared India as the deserved winners. In that match, Younis claimed the wickets of Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja in his ten overs.
“We made quite a few mistakes in that game. Javed Miandad was there, he could have gone in at number four but we kept him at number six, there was no use because he was approaching the end of his career. We kept him for very late, he should have batted at number four. Overall, a good game for cricket and India were well-deserved winners,” he concluded.
