Former Pakistan skipper Aamir Sohail is an outspoken person and often grabs headlines with his controversial statements.
On Wednesday (July 22), Sohail took a dig at Shahid Afridi’s cricketing abilities, saying the latter could neither bat nor bowl during the 1999 World Cup but the team management still preferred him as an opener.
“When I was captain in 1998, we had decided with the selectors that we should have regular openers for the World Cup who can stay at the wicket and play out the new ball,” Sohail said on his YouTube channel.
“Unfortunately, you opted for Shahid Afridi, he had ability on flat low-bouncing tracks where he would take on the bowlers and bring the opposition under pressure. But in demanding conditions, that is a big gamble. He was neither able to bowl nor able to bat. If I was the captain instead of Wasim Akram, I would have preferred Mohammad Yousuf,” he added.
While Pakistan made it to the final of 1999 World Cup, Afridi could only muster 93 runs in the showpiece event from seven innings.
Sohail also claimed that Pakistan played like a 'local team' in that World Cup despite reaching the final.
“So, according to me there were two reasons for your loss at the World Cup. One was that your team combination was not correct at all and the other that you opted to bat after winning the toss when you knew that it had been pelting down in London.”
“From my cricketing experience and my observation, I can say that we played the entire World Cup like a local team. We had one line-up in a match and a different line-up in the next match with changing batting orders,” the former left-hander stated.
He slammed then skipper Wasim Akram for opting to bat first in the summit clash against Australia on a difficult Lord’s pitch.
“Before the World Cup final, there were reports that it had rained a lot in London. As it is, there is a slope at Lord’s due to which the ball does something all the time,” Sohail said. “Salim Malik told me that he had requested Wasim Akram not to bat first after winning the toss else we would be in great difficulty. We should not have exposed our batsmen on a difficult pitch against a confident Australian bowling line-up.
“Salim Malik told me that Wasim Akram had said that we would definitely bowl first after winning the toss. Because our bowling was doing well at that time, we could have restricted the opposition to a low total and lifted the confidence of our batsmen.”
