10 Magical Moments from the 90s which no Indian Cricket fan will ever forget

#3 1996 World Cup Quarterfinal vs Pakistan

Venkatesh Prasad celebrates after blowing away Aamer Sohail’s off stump

The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry, which was at its height in the 90s, has given fans of both teams plenty of moments to savour. But for an Indian cricket fan, very few of them compare to the classic quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup. More than India securing a victory and progressing to the World Cup semi-finals, the greatness of this match is defined by two incredible instances that occurred while it was being played.

The first one came while India were batting first after winning the toss. Despite a good opening stand and a steady 93 by opener Navjot Sidhu, India were still looking in a position to settle for a below par score as they were 200 for 4 in 42 overs. It is at this time that Ajay Jadeja walked in to bat and completely transformed the face of the match. In the process of plundering 45 off just 25 balls, Jadeja tore into legendary Pakistani fast bowler Waqar Younis as he took 22 from one of his overs and hammered him to all parts of the ground. This propelled India’s score to 287.

Instance No. 2 occurred during the Pakistani chase of 288. Openers Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail had set the place on fire with their quickfire opening partnership of 84 runs, but India got the breakthrough thanks to Saeed Anwar top edging a Srinath short delivery. Aamer Sohail, at the other end, was threatening to take the game away from India as he reached his half-century.

Probably the biggest mistake Sohail made in his career was to gesture to lanky Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad to fetch the ball from the boundary. What happened on the very next delivery left everyone stunned as Prasad uprooted the Pakistani southpaw’s off stump and gestured at him to go back to the pavillion. The deafening cheer that followed at the packed Chinnaswamy stadium said it all.

Pakistan never really recovered after that and India recorded a famous victory by 39 runs to progress to the semi-final.