Former Pakistan batsman Aamer Sohail still remembers his dual with former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad in the quarterfinal of the 1996 World Cup in Bengaluru. Sohail recalls the incident and said there was no argument between the two and the whole incident has been blown out of proportion.
During that game, Sohail scored a boundary against Prasad and shown him the bat and pointed towards the boundary. However, the Indian pacer was quick in taking his revenge as he clean bowled the batsman the very next ball.
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“There was no argument. There was nothing said. It was interpreted differently. They have to say something. There was no verbal exchange. The situation was such that Javed Miandad, being an extremely smart cricketer, he told us how to rile up the bowler when you think he is going to take charge. How to move him away from his focus, or his aims, or whatever he is thinking,” Sohail said in a video uploaded on Cricket Life Stories on Youtube.
“It was reverse psychology. Saeed and I were going great guns. He got out, it just got bogged down. And I thought India is taking charge. They are coming back into the game. So just to unsettle the bowler… because I thought both the bowlers are starting to bowl well.
“There were so many other things we had to take into account – there were three spinners in India — one or two others who could hurl their arms. We knew the pitch was going to deteriorate and offer something to the spinners. One over was deducted already; we were chasing 287 in 49 overs. So, there were so many things we had to take into account. We were trying to bring that required run rate at the end of 20th over between 5 and 4. From there on, if we had lost two wickets, it would be easier for the remainder of batsmen to score runs.
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“So, when I realised the bowlers are settling. I just tried to provoke the bowler; nothing was said. I tried to provoke the bowler just to move him away from his dangerous length, and make him lose his focus. I just pointed out something, and people thought so many things that I lost my temper, this what happened, and the bowler had a few other things to say.
“It was a good delivery he bowled, I was hoping it would be a short-pitched delivery that I would be able to hit it down the ground, it was not the case.
“But it was blown out of proportion. I was trying to unsettle the bowler because the situation was such. There was no word exchange, just a simple gesture, and people misconstrued in so many ways.”
The dismissal of Sohail triggered a collapse and Pakistan lost the game to crash out of the tournament. This moment is one of the most talked-about incidents in the India-Pakistan World Cup rivalry.
