Thursday, June 11, 2009

Random Pakistan Cricket Fact #2

When the Pakistan squad for the 1992 World Cup was announced, there was no Javed Miandad in it.

A bad back and indifferent form had resulted in Miandad's ouster from the squad.

Salim Malik had been announced Vice Captain, while a young Aamir Sohail was Miandad's replacement.

Once Imran Khan realised that he won't be able to play the first few games, he called for Javed Miandad to join the squad in Australia.

Aamir Sohail was not replaced due to his form in the warm up matches, Mianded led Pakistan in their first few games and ended the world cup as one of the leading run scorers with over 400 runs in the competition, while the replaced Vice Captain, Salim Malik, failed miserably with the bat.

The rest, History!

Make your pitch on this post...



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11 Pitched:

  1. SledgeHammer said...
     

    I was visiting Pak in Dec 91 / Jan 92. Went with my bro to Gadaffi Stadium the evening the team was being finalized (final day of trials). Security was lax in those days so we made it onto to the field.

    Even got into a bit of an argument with Waqar because he refused to acknowledge his fans. This one guy with us went to his car window, made him roll it down, and gave him a public dressing down about how he should not forget the people who got him to where he is today.

    Talked to some PCB (BCCP) person and asked him if the rumors were true that Miandad was not included. And he confirmed it. We were so depressed! We hoped he was wrong but then heard the official team announcement on khabarnama.

    The next morning we were coincidentally on the same flight as the entire team from Lahore to Karachi. We were sitting not far from them, so we talked to them and took some pics. The flight attendants were totally flirting with Wasim!

    Everyone except Imran was there (naturally! he makes his own plans).

    Bad beginning, and even the warmups and first few group games were disastrous.

    But all's well that ends well, right? :)

  2. Wasim said...
     

    I was quite depressed too but Miandad was able to convince Imran later that some of the players in the team had sold themselves to the bookmakers that news compelled imran to recall Miandad. Both Players decided that they will take most of the responsibility as far as batting was concerned and the rest is history.

  3. farooq syed said...
     

    wow, thats pretty interesting, somethin i definitely wasnt aware of

  4. Q said...
     

    Sledge,

    Surely it is!

    I remember a similar story when I heard of Miandad not being a part of the squad.. I was quite young then, not even in my teens, and I went around howling and saying.."usne aakhri ball pe chakka maara tha, kyon nahin hai woh"?

    I had recently watched the last ball 6 match.. was too young to remember it in 86!

  5. Q said...
     

    Wasim,

    I'm not sure if that happened before the 92 World Cup. Something like that happened in Sharjah deifnitely..

  6. Q said...
     

    Farooq,

    Its true man.. imagine if we had played without him?

    But sense prevailed soon and as Sledge said, all ended well :-)

  7. Q said...
     

    Btw, the warm up matches had gone very bad for Pak and Imran Khan realised that he won't be able to play in the first few matches.. Pakistan's middle order had suffered on Aussie wickets.. all this added to the recall of Miandad...

    Aamir Sohail was the only one who had done well in the warm ups, so he wasn't replaced.

    I'm not sure if there was a man replaced though.. I don't think they had all these restrictions of approvals and 14-15 men back then..

  8. SledgeHammer said...
     

    And let's not forget we lost Waqar in the warmups as well.

    Replaced by the incredibly average Wasim Haider.

    Ijaz Ahmed was a regular bowler for us in the tournament!!! Amazing!

  9. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @Q: And how can anyone ever forget the legendary Iqbal Sikander!!!

    Zahid Fazal was also eventually part of the team but didn't play in any match. I was really excited for him because I got to know him well during a Pakistan "B" tour of Zimbabwe.

    I remember him and a couple of guys screaming "Hum ameer ho gaye!!!" (we've become rich!!!).

  10. Q said...
     

    Sledge,

    Yeah man we hardly had a bowling attack outside of Wasim, Aqib, and Mushy..

    Imran Khan's shoulder was busted, Ijaz Ahmed and Aamir Sohail turned full time bowlers, while Wasim Haider and Iqbal Sikandar no one heard of after the 1992 world cup.

    We had quite an average team and THE Khan turned them into champs!

    Zahid Fazal played 1 game I think.. the one against England.

    Let me check.

    I remember watching Zahid Fazal's innings of 98* against India in Sharjah.. he got cramps and was taken off the field in a stretcher.. early 90s.. not sure if it was after or before the WC, but wat an innings!

  11. Q said...
     

    Actually he played 2, against India and South Africa:

    http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65133.html

    http://www.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/match/65139.html

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