Aamer Sohail slams Pakistani egos, Miandad's sacking as captain for underachieving in 90s

The Pakistan cricket team was a force to be reckoned with during the 90s. But as the years progressed, the domination of the 1992 World Cup-winning team began subsiding. Now, former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail has made a massive claim stating that the Pakistani cricketers’ 'egos' and premature decisions of the Pakistan Cricket Board in the 1990s led to the country's downfall in the years that followed.

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Aamer Sohail reveals reason behind Pakistan cricket's downfall

Aamer Sohail, who himself was a part of the dominant Pakistan team during the 90s, was responding to fans' questions on his YouTube channel. Aamer Sohail said that taking the captaincy away from the experienced Javed Miandad in 1993 and handing Wasim Akram the reins of a team, many of whose members were in the same age group as Akram's, was the 'biggest mistake' Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did.

It is believed that the current Pakistan Prime Minister and the 1992 World Cup winning captain, Imran Khan was largely behind Miandad's sacking as the team's captain. While in the past and in his 2003 autobiography Cutting Edge, Miandad agreed with the theory by being highly critical of Imran Khan's attitude during his playing days and after it, Imran Khan himself has come out publicly on several occasions and denied the allegations. Although the duo shares a solid bond today, it is no secret that they did not see eye-to-eye more often than not when they were arguably two of Pakistan's most experienced and skilled players.

While responding to a fan's question, Aamer Sohail said that one could see that in the 1990s, West Indies were on their downfall and two teams, Australia and Pakistan had started emerging as the top teams of the world. South Africa were just returning to international cricket after being banned due to their apartheid-backing government. 

Sohail added that was the time when the Pakistan cricket team's members should have set aside their egos. Aamer Sohail further said that if they had done so, Pakistan would have dominated world cricket as Australia did in the following years. The former Pakistan captain also said that the high egos of the Pakistan players caused them heavily and they are still paying the price.

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Aamer Sohail led Pakistan in six Tests in 1998 and also became the first Pakistani captain to defeat South Africa in a Test match. Sohail, who captained Pakistan through 22 ODIs from 1996 to 1998, also held himself responsible for Pakistan's downfall, saying that they could have done even better potentially. He further said that he is not absolving himself from responsibility and added that he must have contributed to the damage. Aamer Sohail reckoned that had Javed Miandad had been retained as Test captain and Wasim Akram was appointed captain ahead of the 1996 World Cup, Pakistan cricket would have been on a different level today.

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However, Javed Miandad was removed from captaincy in 1993 and Wasim Akram took over. Aamer Sohail said that they did not learn from their past mistakes. He added though they did not perform well in 1993 Triangular series in Australia while their performance in Test series against New Zealand was decent. He also said that the Wasim Akram-Waqar Younis rivalry was the talk of the town as it was believed that it would help take Pakistan cricket forward.

This wasn't the first time that Aamer Sohail had taken shots at Wasim Akram. Last month, Sohail had alleged that there was a ‘drama’ in Pakistan cricket in the 1996 and 1999 World Cups, where Wasim Akram was appointed as captain just before each edition of the tournament. In fact, the 53-year old went on to say that Akram’s biggest contribution to Pakistan cricket is ensuring that they did not win these World Cups and added that he was not sincere with his efforts for Pakistan.

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IMAGE COURTESY: AAMIR SOHAIL YOUTUBE