The World Cup Loss in 1999

[snsyed]

Do you recall the day Pakistan lost the final of the world cup in 1999?

I remember watching the game with a group of uncles at someones home. Those were the days when you had to rent a huge dish to get coverage of the matches. The loss wasn't that devastating maybe because the game was over pretty quick and it wasn't a down to the last over type of match. After the game, to take our frustrations we all went out and actually played some cricket. How do you recall your day?

How about when Pakistan won the t20 world cup?

 

[Fireworks11]

Certainly. The hope, expectancy and build up going into the 1999 Final was destroyed by that batting collapse. Watched it on TV in a big gathering. Too many hearts broke that day.

After 10 years of waiting....

T20 Final - The atmosphere at Lord's was electric. It was a solid victory. A great occasion that will live long in the memory.

Looking forward to the 2019 WC Final InshAllah...

 

[PakPrince]

I was too young so though I was disappointed but it probably did not hit me as hard as some other defeats which came after i was 14-15 years old or more.

Though what I do remember is that after the first inings most people switched off their TV.
And for prolly the first time I went to the masjid on my own accord and prayed that please make Pak win. I was only 8! So I did not brood over the defeat for too long and was back to playing cricket the next day

2007 WC loss to Ireland, Sydney test loss, T20 Semi losses are a different matter though.

 

[zainkhan]

It was Sunday , I was off from school ( i was in 9th).Me and my friends watched it together,Pakistan batting was not good but we had lots of expectation from Akhtar , Saqlain and Wasim, but they could not do any magic , it was sad day for us After match we watched a movie and thats was it

 

[zainkhan]

Guys in 1999 Wc pak beat Australia in start but lost final.Watch this time?

 

[smoothcriminal]

We had around 50 people in our house for the final. The Final was scheduled to start around 2 pm(Lahore time), so we figured to serve dinner at around 830 pm. The match ended at 7:30pm, and everyone left before we could serve dinner.

What a day.

 

[mrmiz]

I was lucky to be present at the '92 WC Final win and was hoping for a repeat in '99 against Aus esp as we had a memorable win over them in the round robin.
As I am a hockey enthusiast I went to Brisbane to watch Champ Trophy and watched the game with Pak Hockey team, who also beat the Aussies earlier that day so we all hoped it would be good omen for the WC Final. I remember everyone was happy Wasim won the important toss and we would bat..unfortunately the rest is history. The hardest thing for me was fronting up to work the next week where I had given all my mates a hard time after the round robin loss. When I got into work, my PC has Aussie streamers and banners all over it

 

[amjad_ali]

At that time, I was in Lahore and was 8. Around 10 am, we were playing cricket and one of my neighbors mentioned that it was raining and that would suit the fast bowlers. Got a haircut at around 12 and the barbers were very eagerly awaiting the grand finale. And just like that, our batting collapsed before our eyes. That night, we drove around and unlike normal days, the streets were empty. No people, except this one car full of young guys who were also driving around in silence due to the defeat. There were a lot of tears that day, and the next.

 

[saad1024]

It was Sunday , I was off from school ( i was in 9th).Me and my friends watched it together,Pakistan batting was not good but we had lots of expectation from Akhtar , Saqlain and Wasim, but they could not do any magic , it was sad day for us After match we watched a movie and thats was it

It was too low total to defend against Australia. No 'magic' from that star-studded bowling could have saved us that day.

 

[No_Username]

I was drinking doodoo at that time

 

[Free Hit]

Me no know cricket prior to 2000, me watch cricket after 2000

 

[PakPrince]

came accross this thread :/

 

[Bhaijaan]

Often rated as the best ODI line-up from Pakistan ever, that team really underperformed big time. 4 defeats in one world cup are too many to be crowned champion. The bonus point really helped

 

[PakPrince]

Often rated as the best ODI line-up from Pakistan ever, that team really underperformed big time. 4 defeats in one world cup are too many to be crowned champion. The bonus point really helped

but bar the final all defeats were basically dead rubbers.

in the super 6's we needed just 1 win out of 3

 

[Bhaijaan]

There are no dead rubbers in a world cup, especially once you clear round 1. That's why the old format sucked. Pakistan in 1999, Kenya in 2003 benifitted big time from the carry forward system.

 

[haroonrasheed320]

1999 Pakistan was like what India was in 2011, you thought they would never lose after playing so well in the stage games, I was 11 years old back then and lived in a small house in Sharjah where we didn't have that huge dish, our neighbours had the coverage so I used to watch in their house that was when I really started to watch cricket and it was sad to watch them lose but had other things to worry about like losing my new pencil or geometry box.

 

[MR__KHAN__JI]

That final... Something didn't feel quite right....

The defeats in the dead rubbers.... Something didnt feel quite right.

 

[Saqs]

Saeed Anwar changing grips and then getting castled by one the loosest strokes I've ever seen him play...something didn't feel quite right.

 

[Saqs]

'99 is etched permanently into memory by three moments:

1. Shoaib Akhtar (and everything he did - but especially that delivery to Fleming)
2. Saeed Anwar being bowled by Fleming after we had hammered NZ in the Semis
3. Allan Donald dropping his bat and losing his head

 

[zulfiqar]

The match I too remember the most in '99 was THAT semi-final between aus and sa. It is easily my favorite ODI match in history! What a game of ODI cricket... a classic and much much more. Warne doing his magic, Klusener bringing it back, and that fateful runout.

As for Pak, I remember hoping that Aus would go through to the final because we had lost to SA in Super Six and beat Aus in the group stages. Most of us didn't see that collapse coming, although the omens were already there having lost to Bangla earlier in that tournament. Oh well... us Pak fans never learn

 

[Random Aussie]

Well I went to the casino in Melbourne watched it on the big screen.

Was a sweet game I thought

Warne was such a clutch player

 

[Energy]

I still thought we would win when Saqi bhai took out Gilchrist.

 

[Asif321]

was a great world cup .... best one ever i seen in my life ( even though i was 9 years old )
we should have won it ... that was best chance
batting again let us down

 

[Maximas]

Well the best deserving team went to final for '99 WC; it was good result in the end as Australia's world cricket domination decade starts from there. There aint much memorable for that match coz I switched off tv after 1st innings.

I loved watching the very memorable Bangladesh-Pakistan match in '99 though.

 

[LegCutter]

I usually dont say this but something was very very fishy about that game....oh well, kudos to the Aussies, it was the beginning of a new era for them, an era that lasted over a decade.

 

[in_cutter]

A horror show

 

[Random Aussie]

Of course it was fixed I mean those Aussie players couldn't beat anyone.

Gilly Warne McGrath Waugh Waugh and the rest, they proved that by going on to not win the next two world cups and not beating every other side in the world away....And not dominating cricket for a decade right?

 

[fusebulb]

That was a fake final ... Aus had already played their finals against S. Africa....!!!!

 

[Fireworks11]

Lord's was a poignant scene for Pakistan fans that day. Reality had hit. The dream was over. Life continued.

 

[Random Aussie]

No evidence Romali, no evidence.

But hey if Pakistan are dumb enough to lose the World Cup final on purpose to us, fine by me.

 

[Romali_rotti]

But hey if Pakistan are dumb enough to lose the World Cup final ,

No Concrete evidence but they just may have..In all honesty had that Pak side of 99 played to their potential, they would have beaten OZ in the final.........

 

[randompakistani]

I dont remember the 99 WC because i was just a four year old at that time LOL..i remember the 2009 WC t20 victory..boy what a moment it was was..i was dancing and was totally electrified..my facebook was all over filled with afridi posts..hahahah..enjoyed every peice of it..watched the celebration videos in England over and over again on Youtube..the worst lost for me was against Australia in 2010 WC because pakistan was just some steps away to grab the t20 cup again but in the other instant we were pushed to defeat by Mr cricket

 

[Justcrazy]

Aussies were on a real roll after that.

 

[kungfu90]

The best Pakistani team, I've seen. Boy what a line up, specially bowling when you consider Razzaq, Mahmood's form those days.
I was expecting them to beat Aus. That loss would have really hurt their fans.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Best Pak side ever lost to Bangladesh, India, South Africa and Australia in a matter of two weeks.


Yea dead rubbers

 

[DHONI183]

Guys, please don´t make match-fixing allegations. Let us just give credit to the Australians and respect their performance.

Just imagine what Steve Waugh would think if he was reading this thread..... It is double standards anyway to make match-fixing claims and then label Steve Waugh of the best captains ever, isn´t it?

Back to the topic, I dislike it to be reminded of the World Cup Final 1999...... Was the last time I wept/cried in sadness over a cricket match.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Dhoni183 who was your favorite cricketer before MSD arrived?

 

[Maximas]

Some people even think Bang-Pak group match in '99 WC is fixed!

I would say that side of '99 WC Pakistan started tournament as favourite and was too good to be over-confident and pressure-choked with high expectation for the cup. The hype was so huge that nobdy couldnt beleive their batting paformance showed out in the most important day.

 

[Luton Bad Boy]

Australia did a Pakistan 92 in that 99 World Cup...

I remember that they got in via the backdoor and dominated in the Super 8's or 6's cannot remember..

Pakistan defeated Australia in the group match but, pretty much gave their matches to Bangladesh and India as a goodwill gesture...

Best Pakistani lineup ever and final nerves cost them the title and also a formidable opponent in Australia...

 

[DHONI183]

Dhoni183 who was your favorite cricketer before MSD arrived?

All time favourite batsman is Sachin Tendulkar and all time favourite bowler was Wasim Akram.

MS Dhoni is not an all time great and is thus in a different league. I am his fan but facts are facts.

 

[James]

Any allegations of criminality published on the Internet have to be backed up by hard evidence that would stand up in a court of law. Each silly post after silly post in this thread has failed to meet that standard - we'd like to see no more silly posts after this warning, otherwise more serious punishments will be handed out. Thanks.

 

[Saqs]

Warne was such a clutch player

This.

He took the game away from South Africa in the Semis.

And then followed it up with another memorable performance.

Amazing big game player.

 

[cricketworm]

I was facepalming (I know that thing was invented post Twitter, but still I was facepalming) so hard when Pak scored only 132 runs. I really wanted to see nail biting final after Aus. coming back being so low in Super 6. Still they managed to win few crunch matches and that epic draw in semi. Aus. played some terrific cricket.

Aus. got away easily with WC final, that was my feeling.

 

[Random Aussie]

I was facepalming (I know that thing was invented post Twitter, but still I was facepalming) so hard when Pak scored only 132 runs. I really wanted to see nail biting final after Aus. coming back being so low in Super 6. Still they managed to win few crunch matches and that epic draw in semi. Aus. played some terrific cricket.

Aus. got away easily with WC final, that was my feeling.

Agree with this, I was happy to win but I would have preferred to see a good chase against those Pakistan bowlers. As someone already mentioned, 132 was too low for any bowling attack to defend.

I enjoyed 2003 a lot more, that one was heaps of fun

Especially after hearing of the Zaheer Khan sledge "Have they burnt down your house yet mate?"

 

[Anfield]

1999/2003/2007 all were one-sided contests. 2003 was expected. Australia was world apart but never thought they would win so convincingly in 2007 or in 1999 from us. We were clear favorites going into that match. It was looking all good until Mark Waugh pulled that stunner.

Still hurts.. I thought we were going to win and put the whole match on recording. 13 years down and I haven't even watched the highlights of that match.

 

[Random Aussie]

13 years down and I haven't even watched the highlights of that match.

Well it doesnt go for long

 

[Saqs]

Still hurts.. I thought we were going to win and put the whole match on recording. 13 years down and I haven't even watched the highlights of that match.

Neither have I.

Still remember moments from it though.

The Mark Waugh stunner of Wasti, the Anwar castling by Fleming, and the winning shot by Lehmann.

 

[PakPrince]

Shoaib AKhtar:

And there were girls everywhere. I was the star performer, so you can imagine how many of them crowded around me. They would follow us on the motorway and crowd the hotels we were staying in, yelling out my name almost without a break. Ooof! I just loved all the attention but I had begun to dream of taking the World Cup back to Pakistan. So I was really focused and kept to my room...The night before the final, I lay in bed thinking about the next morning. I imagined the sheer ecstasy of winning, I imagined the winning lap... What happened the next day was a downer, to say the least. Things went horribly wrong right from the start. Wasim won the toss and chose to bat. Bowling second was a rather ignorant decision. We should have studied the wicket more carefully and chosen to bowl first. Pakistan's batting is known to collapse, and it did-we were all out for 132. A pitiable score that was very difficult to defend because we needed about 200 to 230 runs on the board to keep the Australians at bay.

The loss was devastating and we came back to the dressing room a deeply dejected lot. It was so quiet ke hamare saanso ki awaz aa rahee thi ek doosre ko-we could hear each other breathe. Most of us were in tears and emotions were running high.

 

[Asiacup2012]

Change your grip MIDDLE OF THE MATCH.....!!! thank you saeed bhai

 

[UP]

We had the whole family gathered in one house. It was a summer of 1999 and all my cousins and their families from France and England were anxiously awaiting for the final. I remember, we didn't sleep the previous night - we were busy talking how we will celebrate our glory in Islamabad.

The next day arrived - the depression and sadness could well be seen in our house. Easily one of our painful defeats.

We had a star team representing us - and not winning the world cup was a major upset and surprise.

 

[Asiacup2012]

Blame Wasim Akram for this match, he wanted to lose so he can make fortune for himself and STILL CONSIDER LEGEND!

 

[Zaz]

To perform so poorly in such a big game was terribly dissapointing

 

[AlphaFighter]

Very painful loss. It was just the way we lost. And what made it even more painful was the fact that we are unlikely to ever put such a powerfull playing 11 on the field again.

 

[rhony]

No Concrete evidence but they just may have..In all honesty had that Pak side of 99 played to their potential, they would have beaten OZ in the final.........

Why would you bat first on a seaming pitch? It didn't make sense

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

Why would you bat first on a seaming pitch? It didn't make sense

Well you don't quite bring the 'sense' debate into anything related to PCB or Pakistan Cricket. That's how we Roll

 

[BigBoy123]

Oh come on 16 bloody years get over it ... Just remember that the day t20 WC 2009 final was played , 21 June 2009 my father told me that 99 final was played on the same date at the same venue exactly 10 years and we may lose this game..thank god we won

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[pillionrider]

Saeed Anwar changing grips and then getting castled by one the loosest strokes I've ever seen him play...something didn't feel quite right.

Remember that moment but also remember putting it down to the 'drinks break' disease

 

[pillionrider]

Why would you bat first on a seaming pitch? It didn't make sense

Why did India bat first after winning the toss against Australia (2003 WC Final). Who had ever chased successfully against that Australian side.

These are questions that can never be answered satisfactorily.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

A lot of things didn't add up during that final game. The Partying allegations, the grip and the drinks break incident plus in that same tournament we lost to Bangladesh which later was glossed over by Wasim as saying that we lost to our brothers.

I am not pointing or making any allegations but cricket matches in the late 90s were quite shady and with the advent of Qayyum report and its finding, taking any 'strange' loss with a pinch of salt is totally justifiable. I mean unless and until you know what to do the next day an athlete wouldn't be partying on the eve of a WC final game no matter how strong the team or that individual is.

I'd be most interested to head what opinion does [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] hold on the matter. Was there are solid evidence of foul play in this particular game ?? Your opinion / suggestions would be much appreciated

 

[Sidilicious]

Why did India bat first after winning the toss against Australia (2003 WC Final). Who had ever chased successfully against that Australian side.

These are questions that can never be answered satisfactorily.

There are simple cricketing reasons behind these decisions. Just why did India chase on a crumbling pitch in the 96 WC semi?

199WC - Why did Pak bat first - Pakistani batsmen are not known to shade targets well. Earlier in the tournament Pakistan had struggled chasing against the likes of India and Bangladesh. Additionally, IIRC they had beaten Aus defending a target. I reckon, given the bowling they had, they would have been confident of defending anything around 225. The batsmen had clicked well enough all through the tournament, and no one would have even though Pakistan will be all out for a meagre score.

2003 WC - India had batted and chased really well all through the tournament. Just as Pakistan, 4 years back, the idea was to use your best suit in the second innings. Just as no one though Pakistan will score such a small score 4 years back, no one expected India to face a daunting task of 360. The batsmen would have backed themselves to chase anything below 280 ish (which was a pretty high score in those days).

But after all we were up against one of the greatest sides. In 1999 Aus were building towards. By the final they had announced themselves as a truly clutch side. By the time 2003 rolled in they were the best by far.

 

[Sidilicious]

I think the guardian did a piece on it back in the day. According to news archives the team was indeed seen partying - here's the link

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/1999/jun/27/cricket3

It is all alleged. Also, they didn't venture out late the night before the match, but the night before the night before the match. If the match is on Sunday, they were partying out on Friday night. Surely not the same as partying the night before.

NO CRICKETER will ever be that stupid to fix the greatest cricket match of his career. The money and fame he will get out of winning the world cup will never match the money he will earn from fixing. I am really confident of this.

 

[Romali_rotti]

NO CRICKETER will ever be that stupid to fix the greatest cricket match of his career. The money and fame he will get out of winning the world cup will never match the money he will earn from fixing. I am really confident of this.

Awww, if only there were more souls like you around, the world would be a much better place .. So cute..

 

[Markhor]

Pakistani batsmen facing swing/seam on an overcast Lords morning.

We all know after years of watching Pakistan cricket how that script always finishes. We didn't do any better two later in the Natwest Series Final either.

There's too many rose tinted glasses about that 99 team which was carried by the bowling. The batting was asking for trouble with Wajahatullah Wasti or Afridi opening and Razzaq at 3 neither of which had the techniques to cope in English conditions, Ijaz was nearing the end of his career, Inzy often choked against Australia and Yousuf was out injured. We relied too often on maybe one of Anwar/Inzy making a good knock or Moin and Akram doing some late order hitting to get us to a total of 220-230 which our bowlers could defend.

Ultimately we'd lost 4 matches in total, and if we did throw the Bangladesh match as alleged (watch those highlights again, the modes of dismissal are so loose and the silly runouts are a joke as if we weren't even trying) we didn't deserve to win anyway. The 1980s team under Imran/Javed achieved far more than this bunch of bottlers. Look at our home form during this period too, a vintage Pakistan side this was not, it was too inconsistent.

 

[Haroon786]

That 90's team is probably the most overrated team of all time in cricket.

 

[pillionrider]

People here beginning to sound as if Australia winning that final was the equivalent of India beating the West Indies in '83

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Pakistani batsmen facing swing/seam on an overcast Lords morning.

We all know after years of watching Pakistan cricket how that script always finishes. We didn't do any better two later in the Natwest Series Final either.

There's too many rose tinted glasses about that 99 team which was carried by the bowling. The batting was asking for trouble with Wajahatullah Wasti or Afridi opening and Razzaq at 3 neither of which had the techniques to cope in English conditions, Ijaz was nearing the end of his career, Inzy often choked against Australia and Yousuf was out injured. We relied too often on maybe one of Anwar/Inzy making a good knock or Moin and Akram doing some late order hitting to get us to a total of 220-230 which our bowlers could defend.

Ultimately we'd lost 4 matches in total, and if we did throw the Bangladesh match as alleged (watch those highlights again, the modes of dismissal are so loose and the silly runouts are a joke as if we weren't even trying) we didn't deserve to win anyway. The 1980s team under Imran/Javed achieved far more than this bunch of bottlers. Look at our home form during this period too, a vintage Pakistan side this was not, it was too inconsistent.

Agreed.

90's side wasn't as good as it was made out to be. A few brilliant performaces aside, this team had a pretty ordinary record.

 

[waleed88]

Pakistani batsmen facing swing/seam on an overcast Lords morning.





We all know after years of watching Pakistan cricket how that script always finishes. We didn't do any better two later in the Natwest Series Final either.





There's too many rose tinted glasses about that 99 team which was carried by the bowling. The batting was asking for trouble with Wajahatullah Wasti or Afridi opening and Razzaq at 3 neither of which had the techniques to cope in English conditions, Ijaz was nearing the end of his career, Inzy often choked against Australia and Yousuf was out injured. We relied too often on maybe one of Anwar/Inzy making a good knock or Moin and Akram doing some late order hitting to get us to a total of 220-230 which our bowlers could defend.





Ultimately we'd lost 4 matches in total, and if we did throw the Bangladesh match as alleged (watch those highlights again, the modes of dismissal are so loose and the silly runouts are a joke as if we weren't even trying) we didn't deserve to win anyway. The 1980s team under Imran/Javed achieved far more than this bunch of bottlers. Look at our home form during this period too, a vintage Pakistan side this was not, it was too inconsistent.

I agree on this. 90's team was way too overrated. It made all its fame bashing India left right and centre in every tournament while losing to them in the World Cups. Also losing to the big sides like Australia and South Africa who were way more consistent and temperamentally stronger than us.



The panic that strikes in our battign when we chased a target. Where even a small target to chase will be made to look like a mountain's peak are traits are present in all of Pakistan sides since then. Inzy's side were also poor chasers but they were better than any other chasing Pakistan side for ages.

 

[Saqs]

Pakistani batsmen facing swing/seam on an overcast Lords morning.

We all know after years of watching Pakistan cricket how that script always finishes. We didn't do any better two later in the Natwest Series Final either.

There's too many rose tinted glasses about that 99 team which was carried by the bowling. The batting was asking for trouble with Wajahatullah Wasti or Afridi opening and Razzaq at 3 neither of which had the techniques to cope in English conditions, Ijaz was nearing the end of his career, Inzy often choked against Australia and Yousuf was out injured. We relied too often on maybe one of Anwar/Inzy making a good knock or Moin and Akram doing some late order hitting to get us to a total of 220-230 which our bowlers could defend.

Ultimately we'd lost 4 matches in total, and if we did throw the Bangladesh match as alleged (watch those highlights again, the modes of dismissal are so loose and the silly runouts are a joke as if we weren't even trying) we didn't deserve to win anyway. The 1980s team under Imran/Javed achieved far more than this bunch of bottlers. Look at our home form during this period too, a vintage Pakistan side this was not, it was too inconsistent.

*Thinks about it. Agrees. Puts rose tinted glasses back on*

 

[kuthaman]

I think the reason why the 90s team is looked at so fondly is because of the sheer amount of talent in the team. About half the side were all-time/Pakistani greats, while the rest were the hottest young talents going around. A squad containing Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood (at their peaks), Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Inzamam, Ijaz Ahmed, Yousuf, Saeed Anwar should have been unstoppable. The tragedy is that they were far from it.

 

[trogger]

pakistan fans might not want to hear it but reality was the real final was SA vs aus in the semi, both sides would have easily won the final in those conditions vs pakistan.

 

[Suleiman]

Need to stop crying about the past and move the hell on already.

I'm yet to see a South African fan cry about Gibbs' drop catch or bottling it in the 90s or early 2000s every other month, and I know quite a few Saffers. Probably fixed, maybe not, who cares, it's not changing.

 

[ChachaCricket]

Desi Aunty, how many things from the past are you gonna cry about?

 

[pacesensation]

After noticing Australia winning two gruelling matches and Pakistan getting easily to final, I was kinda wary of aussies.
Aus deserved it. But the way ijaz got bowled by warne was very funny.
)

 

[AlphaFighter]

According to Richard Pybus, the dressing room environment was extremely uncomfortable because of the ease of entry and exit of so many PML-N officials at the time from the team's dressing room.

 

[AlphaFighter]

My view on the 90's team was it just achieved the bear minimum of what they should have achieved but they severely under achieved given the level of talent and resources in the team.

But there is no denying the fact that every Pakistani is dearly wishing to see the 90's team play again.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

After noticing Australia winning two gruelling matches and Pakistan getting easily to final, I was kinda wary of aussies.
Aus deserved it. But the way ijaz got bowled by warne was very funny.
)

To be fair ball from Warne was pitched little short and bounce was like when ball is pitched up

 

[Vayuu]

I think the reason why the 90s team is looked at so fondly is because of the sheer amount of talent in the team. About half the side were all-time/Pakistani greats, while the rest were the hottest young talents going around. A squad containing Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood (at their peaks), Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Inzamam, Ijaz Ahmed, Yousuf, Saeed Anwar should have been unstoppable. The tragedy is that they were far from it.

Problem was the side they faced in the final was much stronger and legendary .

 

[dashing_man]

Certainly. The hope, expectancy and build up going into the 1999 Final was destroyed by that batting collapse. Watched it on TV in a big gathering. Too many hearts broke that day.

After 10 years of waiting....

T20 Final - The atmosphere at Lord's was electric. It was a solid victory. A great occasion that will live long in the memory.

Looking forward to the 2019 WC Final InshAllah...

after 10 years we redeemed ourselves. Hopefully we do the same in 2019

 

[EliteCynical]

Was watching an interview of Wasim a few years ago, reg that game and he said, there was a period when Mohd Yousuf ( Youhana back then), who was a sub in that game, was asked to get a new bat (or grip,not sure) for Saeed Anwar and he got the wrong one. He had to jog back and get the right one. Wasim said that, this cost Anwar his concentration and Pak lost so much momentum. Wickets kept tumbling after that. Sometimes, such small things make a big difference in a knock out match.

On the other hand, i remember Arjuna saying that he saw his players buying carpets and bargaining with local traders a day before the 96 final at Gaddaffi. Knowing that his players were so cool before a final match, took all the pressure off him.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Pakistan got to the world cup based on have the best all-round bowling attack in the tournament, the batting all the way through the toruney was poor and alot of the time the late middle order bailed us out. Inzi was poor all world cup, Saeed Anwar only gained from in last two games in the final, We did pretty well to get to the final itself. In the end our batting was exposed once to many times which caused defeat.