The supporting cast of 92

KARACHI: Imran Khan’s class of 92 included 14 players but not all of them possessed the talent and class that made them eventual ends. At one end he had a wizard in Wasim Akram, a prodigiously gifted batsman in Inzamamul Haq and a true fighter in Javed Miandad.

Unsurprisingly, the trio of Javed, Inzamam and Wasim entered the club of legends through some mesmerising feats spread over decades. Meanwhile, the likes of Aamir Sohail, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aaqib Javed, Ramiz Raja, Ijaz Ahmed, Saleem Malik, and Moin Khan enjoyed fairly successful careers before bowing out of the game, most of them unceremoniously.

Malik was the most high-profile casualty at the end of his career; caught in a match-fixing scandal that saw him exit the game in disgrace, condemned to a life-time ban.

Then there were three players who were part of the squad yet never made a telling impact on the field and their biggest contribution in the tournament was to warm the bench.

Zahid Fazal, Iqbal Sikander and Wasim Haider are the three forgotten characters of the World Cup 92 story and are never discussed in any vignette related to the tale of the historic triumph.

As Imran called on his players to fight like cornered tigers on the eve of the first of a series of do-or-die matches in Perth, he had in his mind already chosen the 10 soldiers that were to fight the battle from there on in and only a selection blunder in the semi-final at Auckland saw Sikander sneak into the playing eleven.

All three made sporadic appearances on the field during the last five match unbeaten Pakistan streak, a prostrating Zahid was one of the first shots captured by the broadcasters in the immediate aftermath of Ramiz’s catch to dismiss Richard Illingworth in the final; a moment that sent the entire squad, in fact the entire country, into raptures.

But otherwise the tournament brought no joy for the right-handed top order batsman from Sialkot. Imran, however, had identified Zahid as one of his match winners alongside Inzamam.

The captain’s trust in the gangly long-haired Zahid was well placed since in the early 90s Zahid was regarded as one of the finest batting talents in the country and Imran had seen him unfurl some of the awe-inspiring shots in his repertoire against India in a Sharjah final merely months before the World Cup.

The innings in Sharjah typified Zahid’s career — batting at number three, he serenely closed in on a maiden international hundred. But only two runs shy of the landmark, calamity struck and the youngster collapsed in the searing desert heat on a Friday morning.

That 98* (Retired hurt) was Zahid’s highest score in both Test and ODI formats. With the bat he contributed a measly 13 runs in two 1992 World Cup outings against South Africa and India and was subsequently only asked to field for the sick Javed or when one of the bowlers wanted to cool their heels for a bit.

Another vivid Zahid memory is a raging Wasim Akram shouting profanities at the substitute fielder after he moved a month after the ball had flown past him in the slips against Australia.

Iqbal Sikander, the second act of the supporting cast, featured in four matches in Australia and New Zealand.

At 33, Sikander was no spring chicken when he took the field for his ODI debut in Pakistan’s opening game of the tournament where West Indies pulverised the eventual champions by a 10-wicket margin. The leg-spinner fared better than the rest of his bowling mates, conceding a mere 26 runs in eight overs, albeit without a wicket.

Against South Africa and Zimbabwe, Sikander maintained a tight leash conceding less than four runs per over in the two matches while also snaring a wicket in both.

The semi-final though didn’t go according to the plan and legend has it that Sikander was only drafted in at the eleventh hour as the think tank failed to adequately read the conditions in the New Zealand cauldron of Auckland.

Figures of 1-56 from nine overs were a fair reflection of Sikander’s predicament against Martin Crowe and Ken Rutherford. The insipid performance turned out to be his last ever at the international level for Sikander,, with Ijaz Ahmed being a straight swap for him at the tournament final.

Wasim Haider, a bowling all-rounder, was 24 years old when he was asked to fill the considerable boots of Waqar Younis after the speedster’s back gave in a few days before the commencement of the cricketing extravaganza.

But Haider was chucked out of Imran’s strategy after failing to grab the headlines in his three appearances at the tournament against the West Indies, England and India.

Like Sikander, Haider fared decently in one match; the tie against India, where he bowled 10 overs for 36 runs, dismissing Ajay Jadeja with his fellow bench warmer Zahid taking the catch.

Haider also didn’t play for Pakistan again, his career ended with three games and a solitary wicket. In all he bowled 19 overs for 79 runs.

The World Cup returns to Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 1992 and Imran Khan and his heroes have found ample space in print and electronic coverage from both local and international outlets.

The supporting cast though hardly gets a mention since they neither blazed away like Inzamam nor failed spectacularly like Saleem Malik, and unlike Ijaz Ahmed they never got a chance to redeem their fortunes.

The trio has moved on after getting their share of the World Cup spoils. Sikander works for the Asian Cricket Council, Haider coaches Faisalabad while the most aloof and perhaps the most talented of the three, Zahid, leads a life of relative obscurity in Sialkot; the word is that he doesn’t even answer his cell phone.

 

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.