Saleem Jaffer speaks to Shazia Hassan
The fourth World Cup in 1987 saw the mega event come to Asia for the very first time when it was jointly hosted by India and Pakistan. The hype created around it then was also nothing short of electrifying. India, of course, were the reigning champions but coming into the tournament after having just won the India and England series on their turfs also made us the favourites to win the World Cup that year.
The day we lost the semi-final to Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium is something I'd rather forget. What can I say? Maybe the pressures of playing on home ground exceeded the expectations the people associated with us. Yes, I gave away 18 runs in my last over, which eventually became the margin of difference, but if you broaden your view, you'll see that everything seemed to go against us on that Nov 4.For starters Mudasssar Nazar became unfit and Mansoor Akhtar had to be brought in his place. Our wicketkeeper Saleem Yousuf, too, was injured early in the match and Javed Miandad had to fill in for him. So anything that could go wrong eventually did.
But then I also carry with me the memory of the fine class shown by the West Indies bowler Courtney Walsh at the same ground earlier in the tournament. Abdul Qadir was batting and I was there at the non striker's end. We just needed two runs to win from the last ball but even a single would have done the trick as leveling the scores would also have decided the match in our favour. It was then that Qadir walked up to me to tell me to take a run no matter what the next time he swings his bat and in my urgency to do so I started running even before Walsh could bowl his ball. But instead of running me out, he warned me to get back behind the line, which I gratefully did. The next delivery by him saw Qadir hitting towards the offside for two runs to win the match. The defeat in the league match cost the two-time world champions West Indies a place in the semi-final.
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