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| April 27, 2007 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 09, 1428 |
Pakistan rode luck to rule the world
THE word ‘luck’ played a huge part in Pakistan’s unexpected road to title in the 1992 World Cup which featured, for the first time, the mercurial South Africans following the end of apartheid in that nation.
The tournament, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, itself was transformed in comparison to the previous editions and the only to be held on a league basis with all nine contestants facing each other in a crisscross itinerary that required extensive travelling for some of the teams (notably Sri Lanka).
Coloured clothing with names on the back made its mega event debut as did floodlights (in most of the fixtures) and the introduction of two white balls (one at each end to avoid the fear of it getting grubby).
Rules pertaining to fielding circles were also modified with only two men allowed outside the ring during the first 15 overs of each innings. After that a minimum of four had to be inside the 30-yard area.
Because of a wretched start Pakistan were doomed to head home since they had bagged just three points after five matches. One of the points came via a heavy downpour in Adelaide where England had bowled them out for 74. Chasing a revised target of 64 in 16 overs, England had reached 24 for one before the heavens opened to save Pakistan.
However, Imran Khan’s cornered tigers won last the three league ties in a row to put themselves in contention. But even their place in the semi-finals was only confirmed after Australia beat West Indies in the last preliminary round match in Melbourne some six hours after Pakistan had beaten the previously unbeaten New Zealand in Christchurch.
In the semis, Pakistan again defeated New Zealand (in Auckland) while England were declared winners after the farcical rain-rule robbed South Africa of a certain win in the Sydney semi-final.
The final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was attended by an Aussie crowd of 87,182 which saw Pakistan bat carefully after winning the toss to post a decent score, built by a 139-run stand between Imran and Javed Miandad and some lusty hitting from a young Inzamam-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram.
England’s response was jittery at the start with four wickets going down. And when they tried to regroup, Wasim produced two lethal deliveries in succession that accounted for Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis to put the result beyond doubt. Appropriately, Imran took the last wicket on what was his final hurrah.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Aamir Sohail c Stewart b Pringle 4
Ramiz Raja lbw b Pringle 8
Imran Khan c Illingworth b Botham 72
Javed Miandad c Botham b Illingworth 58
Inzamam-ul-Haq b Pringle 42
Wasim Akram run out 33
Salim Malik not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-19, W-6, NB-7) 32
TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 249
FALL OF WKTS: 1-20 (Aamir Sohail), 2-23 (Ramiz Raja), 3-163 (Javed Miandad), 4-197 (Imran Khan), 5-249 (Inzamam-ul-Haq), 6-249 (Wasim Akram).
DID NOT BAT: Ijaz Ahmed, Moin Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aaqib Javed.
BOWLING: Pringle 10-2-22-3 (5nb, 3w); Lewis 10-2-52-0 (2nb, 1w); Botham 7-0-42-1; DeFreitas 10-1-42-0 (1w); Illingworth 10-0-50-1; Reeve 3-0-22-0 (1w).
ENGLAND:
G.A. Gooch c Aaqib b Mushtaq 29
I.T. Botham c Moin b Wasim 0
A.J. Stewart c Moin b Aaqib 7
G.A. Hick lbw b Mushtaq 17
N.H. Fairbrother c Moin b Aaqib 62
A.J. Lamb b Wasim 31
C.C. Lewis b Wasim 0
D.A. Reeve c Ramiz b Mushtaq 15
D.R. Pringle not out 18
P.A.J. DeFreitas run out 10
R.K. Illingworth c Ramiz b Imran 14
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-13, NB-6) 24
TOTAL (all out, 49.2 overs) 227
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6 (Botham), 2-21 (Stewart), 3-59 (Hick), 4-69 (Gooch), 5-141 (Lamb), 6-141 (Lewis), 7-180 (Fairbrother), 8-183 (Reeve), 9-208 (DeFreitas).
BOWLING: Wasim Akram 10-0-49-3 (4nb, 6w); Aaqib Javed 10-2-27-2 (1nb, 3w); Mushtaq Ahmed 10-1-41-3 (1w); Ijaz Ahmed 3-0-13-0 (2w); Imran Khan 6.2-0-43-1 (1nb); Aamir Sohail 10-0-49-0 (1w).
RESULT: Pakistan won by 22 runs.
UMPIRES: B.L. Aldridge (New Zealand) and S.A. Bucknor (West Indies).
MATCH REFEREE: P.J.P. Burge (Australia).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Wasim Akram.
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