96 was the most complete Pakistan team of the 90s and is ahead of our current team, especially in batting. How did we not win in 96 is still staggering.
You had peak Saeed Anwar and Amir Sohail as your settled opening combo. Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam, Saleem Malik and Rashid Latif were all in their primes and made for a solid middle order.
Mushtaq Ahmed and Wasim Akram were in their primes. Waqar was a few years out from the back injury but was still a top performer. Aqib Javed was the third seamer/support act with Amir Sohail providing part time spin.
The only pieces missing from the 96 team were the quality allrounders we had in 99, but the specialists were so good you didn't need them. The only negative was that a washed up Javed Miandad politicked his way into the squad like YK did in 2015.
1996 team indeed was a fantastic team for the venue (s). I think, Saqlin was also there and Ataur Rehman as well, both of whom could have made starting XI of few other contenders. Apparently, there was the all-rounder issue, but effectively it wasn't - for Asian wickets, Amir (Sohail), was a regular bowler who bowled full quota often in UAE, IICRC, he won a MoM against SRL in around 1995 for 4/22 or so; between 1994 to 1996, Amir actually was quite decent All-rounder, part of the 1996-97 WSC winning tam, where he bowled well.
Wasim never took his batting seriously, hence his stats are obnoxiously poor for his ability but he was the best No. 8 in that time. He reached his best batting potential by 1996 WC and you can consider him a genuine all-rounder around that time.
That was a brilliant XI, if team was selected on merit and batting order was set better. Also, Akram's injury didn't help just before the crunch game, and finally PAK batsmen bolted while thinking they were chasing 289 in 49 overs, not 204 in 39 with 10 wickets at hand & 2 set openers blasting in middle. India went with one less bowler (because of Provakor's absence), which PAK batting failed to factor. Of the 30 best overs, it was 85-0 after 10, and Azhar took almost 5 minutes to give Srinath one more (6th) - Anwar got hold at deep mid-on, for what is one of the least % shot in cricket - trying to clear deep mid-on, against a fast bowler, taking the ball away from angle.
