Top 10 Iconic Moments In Cricket World Cup History

4. Venkatesh Prasad’s send-off to Aamer Sohail- 1996 World Cup

India and Pakistan is the biggest rivalry in world cricket and the stakes are raised high in World Cup tournaments. The two arch-rivals have clashed 8 times in ODI World Cups and India has not lost to Pakistan in a single match. Their best and most entertaining clash came in the 1996 World Cup, in the quarter-final of the tournament in Bengaluru.

Navjot Sidhu’s 93 and Ajay Jadeja’s death overs flurry took India to 287/8 in 50 overs. The highlight was his demolition job of Waqar Younis, in which the bowler leaked 45 runs in his last two overs. It was a big target in those times, but Pakistan started well, with Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar adding 84 runs for 1^st wicket in just 10 overs.

Saeed Anwar fell for 48, But Sohail continued his aggressive batting. In the 15^th over, the final one of the fielding restrictions, he hit Venkatesh Prasad for a four, advancing down the track, towards point. After hitting the shot, he infamously showed his bat to the bowler, signing that he would hit him to the same place on the next ball.

Venkatesh Prasad improvised a bit and bowled a fuller length, which Sohail tried to cut and lost his off-stump, which cartwheeled towards the keeper. The crowd in Bangalore went crazy as Prasad gave an apt send-off to Sohail. This was enough to fire the Indians who then went on to win the match by 39 runs.

This was also the final match of Javed Miandad’s international career and he was run out for 38 runs in his final innings.