In what was one of the most remembered on-field skirmish between players from India and Pakistan, Aamer Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad clashed in the 1996 World Cup. This is the story about what actually transpired between the duo in that incident and what followed later.
Background to the Sohail-Prasad clash
The 1996 World Cup was co-hosted in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Both India and Pakistan played all their group matches at home.
India finished third in their group A behind Sri Lanka and Australia while Pakistan ended second after South Africa in the other group, setting up a mouth-watering quarterfinal clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
The two sides had faced off once before that in a World Cup clash. That had come in the 1992 World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground where a half-century from the bat of Sachin Tendulkar had helped India overcome Pakistan.
Pakistan were expected to start off as a favourite though given their overall record against India but a last minute injury to their captain Wasim Akram meant that they had gone into the encounter without both, their skipper and their best fast bowler.
Aamer Sohail took over the reins as the skipper, lost the toss and saw India rake up 287/8 in their stipulated 50 overs thanks to Navjot Singh Sidhu’s 115-ball 93 and a 25-ball 45 off the bat of Ajay Jadeja.
In reply, Pakistan got off to a flying start, piling up 84 in 10 overs without losing a wicket thanks to the brilliance of Sohail and Saeed Anwar.
Javagal Srinath got rid of Anwar in the 11th over but Sohail continued to take down the Indian bowlers as Pakistan jumped to 109 for one in the 15th over.
What exactly transpired between Sohail and Prasad?
Tensions were running high given the nature of not just the contest but also given that the stakes were high.
A World Cup semifinal berth was on line and Pakistan looked to be running away with the contest, with Sohail taking advantage of the fielding restrictions that were in place for the first 15 overs.
In what was the last over before the fielding restrictions were to be taken off (the so-called Powerplay overs), Sohail charged down a delivery from Prasad and spanked him over extra-cover for a four.
The Pakistani captain, who had earlier brought up his half-century, would then call out to Prasad and use his bat in a gesture that meant he was going to attempt the same against him off the very next ball too.
Prasad looked on, didn’t say a word but off the next ball got the ball to deviate into the batsman from round the stumps in a bid to prevent him from getting any room. The better option for Sohail would have been to either defend that ball or play it with the angle to the leg-side.
Instead, with the adrenaline flowing and having earlier gotten into a verbal joust with Prasad, Sohail threw caution to the wind and opted to blast the ball through covers yet again, like he had done off the previous ball.
There was a difference between the two deliveries.
The first had been wider outside the off and given Sohail a free movement of his hands to play it through the off-side. The next one, however, saw Prasad close that angle down and bowl it well within the stumps, something that Sohail didn’t quite account for.
He went for a swipe, missed it completely and saw his off-stump flattened on the ground.
As the Bangalore crowd roared in unison, Prasad added a neat little send-off to the Pakistani captain, showing him where the dressing room was and with a couple of words to boot as well.
This proved to be one of the the biggest turning points of the game as Pakistan failed to recover from this wicket and fell away to a 39-run defeat.
What happened later?
Pakistan were 113/1 in the 15th over just before this incident but once Sohail departed, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals which slowed their run-rate down.
In fact they added a mere 71 runs over the next 20 overs to allow India to claw back into the contest as Prasad took the wickets of Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq to go with Sohail as well.
Javed Miandad, in his last World Cup edition, held one end up but failed to up the ante and once he was run-out for 38, there was no looking back as the rest of the side fell away quickly.
India would go on to lose to Sri Lanka in the semifinals at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Interestingly, Prasad would lead India to another win over Pakistan and that would come at the 1999 World Cup. His five-wicket haul would clinch India a 47-run win after scoring 227/6 in their 50 overs.
What did Sohail say about the Prasad incident?
While this incident has often been remembered by fans of both countries and used as a part of multiple World Cup and other cricket video montages, Sohail has defended his actions.
He explained that India were clawing back into the contest after Anwar’s wicket and he had been following Javed Miandad’s tactics on trying to disrupt the opposition bowler’s rhythm.
Sohail also noted the pitch was deteriorating and India had three spinners to take advantage of that which meant that it was down to him and the other top-order batters to try and bring that required-rate down to as low as possible before the tweakers came on to bowl.
He added he was trying to provoke Prasad to disrupt his focus and in the process, was hoping that the bowler would bowl a bouncer which he would then pull away.
As luck would have it, Prasad’s focus remain unwavered and it turned out to be the end of Sohail’s stay at the crease!
What did Prasad say about the 1996 World Cup incident?
Prasad has had his say about this incident too. Speaking to R Ashwin on his YouTube channel, Prasad recalled he was finding it difficult to maintain his cool because of the match and tournament situation.
According to Prasad, not only did Sohail point in the direction where he was planning to hit the bowler next, he also exchanged a few words with him. When Prasad was returning to the top of his bowling mark, he admitted he had a few things to think about.
The Indian speedster said:
“I had to make a decision. Then I said ‘this is what I have practiced all my life. Bowl in the corridor, don’t give width to the batsman and bowl stump to stump’.”
“And I just backed myself, kept my cool of course, didn’t really go back to what happened in the previous ball or what’s going to happen the next ball.”
In another interview, Prasad also admitted he was lucky to have gotten away without any penalty or ban because the ICC Code of Conduct had only recently been introduced to cricket before that World Cup.
What did the others say about this Sohail-Prasad incident?
Waqar Younis, who had played this game, said he and the rest of the Pakistani players sitting in the changing room, were shocked at Sohail’s dismissal having played so well before that.
Virat Kohli, in his chat with Indian footballer Sunil Chettri, called it one of most iconic moments in the history of World Cup cricket. He also said there was no bowled dismissal as satisfying as the Sohail one for him.
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