Miandad after 1996 quarter-final loss to India

[Gotham Cronie]

Sanjay Manjrekar": "It was a great game of cricket. I remember Javed Miandad, after the match, came to our dressing room. It was his final game and he loves India in a different way. He wanted to beat India, of course, but once the match was over he was happy that India was one of the teams that was going through. He came in and spent some good 30 minutes with us, hugging us, and he was very emotional and he shared his emotions with us in the dressing room. I will never forget that."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/video_audio/285235.html Should be a lesson for all extreme fans everywhere such as those who commit suicide, burn effigies and go after player's houses after games.

[punjabi_khota]

That is a surprising bit of information :hmmm:

[Raghav_12]

Manjrekar anyways does everything to put Pakistan and it's player in good light. I am not gonna believe that Joker..

[Ultimate_Game]

What did you expect Manjrekar to say? That Miandad and the rest of Pak players acted like a bunch of spoilt kids who had their candies stolen away from them? I mean we all saw how Miandad acted in 92 world cup while playing against India - hope you have seen Miandad-More incident as well. Now you want me to believe that such a person suddenly grew a soft spot for India within 4 years? This is all politically correct bs and I don't buy it. Manjrekar wants to be in the good books of everyone so that he could get more commentary and cricket analyst related assignments and for that to happen you have to sit on the fence and be politically correct all the time. Look at what happened to Sidhu as he was one chap who spoke his mind - nobody wanted to have him as he was too frank and straightforward for most of the ppl. I would have believed this stuff if someone like Sehwag had said so. Since Sehwag wasn't playing I would have gone with what Sidhu had said in the interview :smiley: Sorry but to me Manjrekar is a "thaali ka baingan" and goes wherever he gets the most benefit.

[Cricket_Guru]

we certainly have extremists present here, not believing in this :--D

[vpg0002]

Thanks for sharing this article.

[Desi Cartman]

must be on orders of Brother Dawood ... probably passing on some information to Azhar

[Rajiv]

It was Javeds last WC game ( or last ODI maybe )

[Desi Cartman]

It was Javeds last WC game ( or last ODI maybe )

Last ODI ... he had come out of retirement to play in the WC He was pissed off cuz he was forced to bat at #6, also made a statement on the lines that he could have won the game for pak had he been allowed to open/bat higher in the order :--D

[yoda]

must be on orders of Brother Dawood ... probably passing on some information to Azhar

:hysterical:

[Gotham Cronie]

Here is the full context: AR: The second quarter-final, India versus Pakistan, was one of the classic games of the World Cup. Can you tell us what was it like - the pressure before the match and the way match unfolded for you as a player? SM: We arrived in Bangalore much before the game was scheduled, and it was something that I had not experienced before - the kind of buzz before the match. It's not such a good idea to arrive at the venue so much in advance because then the people in the city start getting close to you, they try and make some kind of contact and the pressure grows. You are better off arriving two days before or one day before, looking at the conditions and playing it like any other game. That remains one of the memorable matches that I have played. Purely because of the nerves involved, the involvement of the nation in the game, and plus, Pakistan at the time were clearly a better team than India. In that period they won more matches than we did. So it was a great challenge and just the kind of tension and the build up before the game made it even more challenging for all of us. I remember, in the team meeting we talked a lot and Ajit Wadekar, who was the coach, was very good. He used to spend lot of time on what was really vital to win a match. We spent a lot of time talking about strategies, and what we needed to do against Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail. I remember turning up for the game. The team was announced and we were doing our warm-up. This is a routine: you arrive at the ground about an hour and a half before the match starts. Then you assemble in one group and then you do that first lap of the ground. By that time about half the stadium was filled. The kind of ovation that we got when we did that lap, I felt that we just cannot lose this match here. There was so much support that Pakistan was going to find it almost impossible to beat India. It was like we had 50,011 players playing against 11 players from Pakistan. And that is the kind of advantage we had playing in Bangalore, and suddenly the mood in the team was different. You talk about home support, crowd support - there was evidence of that on that particular day. We won the match because there were some great moments. It wasn't a very impressive performance by India right through. India typically wins on some great moments that come through exceptional individuals. Although Navjot Singh Sidhu got 93 and played really well, it was Ajay Jadeja who made it possible. If not for Jadeja's innings, India would have lost that game. Ajay's blitz against Waqar Younis was the reason we were able to beat Pakistan. Once we got that total on the board we were on the field, and we were confident that however good Pakistan was, they were not going to get there. Everybody knows about the Aamer Sohail-Venkatesh Prasad incident, and Sohail is that kind of character. They just came out with lot of self-belief and they were also looking to fire themselves up and in that process Sohail just got a bit carried away. That's where the personalities of the two batsmen were seen - and that character of Sohail let Pakistan down in that particular moment. I am not saying that Pakistan lost because of Sohail's discrepancy. It was just that at a very vital moment he let his spirit take over and he over-reacted in that situation. Venkatesh Prasad, a south Indian guy, never wants to be too animated and aggressive, and his response to Sohail just fired everyone up. Not that we needed any more boosting. We all were very much in the game. Even during the final stages when Rashid Latif came in and hoicked one of our fast bowlers for a six, I was looking at the Pakistan team and asking what is needed to beat them, because they just kept coming back. We were quickly in a match-winning position in 10-15 overs, once Sohail and Anwar were gone, but they just kept coming back. Till the match was over, I for one could not relax, and I remember fielding at backward point and I have never seen the kind of spirit that we showed on the field on that day. Not a moment where a player let his guard down and we were more than 100% right through the match. If India always played with the same kind of intensity then we would have had a much better record in international games. It was a great game of cricket. I remember Javed Miandad, after the match, came to our dressing room. It was his final game and he loves India in a different way. He wanted to beat India, of course, but once the match was over he was happy that India was one of the teams that was going through. He came in and spent some good 30 minutes with us, hugging us, and he was very emotional and he shared his emotions with us in the dressing room. I will never forget that. A memorable game, and after that we were like gods in Bangalore. We stayed back for a couple of days, and wherever we went we were absolutely worshipped by Bangaloreans for what we had done for them.

[Ultimate_Game]

we certainly have extremists present here' date=' not believing in this :--D[/quote'] I am not sure about the extremist part but I sure am not drinking the Manjrekar kool-aid. You want me to believe that a game which both sides desperately wanted to win and where a guy like Prasad was so intense and emotional to act the way he did after dismissing Sohail that players from either side would pat each other on the back and share a laugh or two after the match was over? I am sure Shoaib showed up for post-match celebratory drinks as well after the 2003 world cup Ind-Pak game as well. I may be many things, but gullible I am not and would wait for other players involved in the game to substantiate what Manjrekar mentioned.

[nballa]

we certainly have extremists present here' date=' not believing in this :--D[/quote'] im an indian and i am ashamed to be grouped with the above dolts who doubt this. guy was playing his last odi, no longer has a rivalry and is allowed to show some emotion.

[Ultimate_Game]

im an indian and i am ashamed to be grouped with the above dolts who doubt this. guy was playing his last odi, no longer has a rivalry and is allowed to show some emotion.

I am sure you believed Sarah Palin as well when she said she could see Russia from her home

[nballa]

I am sure you believed Sarah Palin as well when she said she could see Russia from her home

actually yes, you can see russia across the bering strait. her home means alaska

[Ultimate_Game]

actually yes' date=' you can see russia across the bering strait. her home means alaska[/quote'] And I'm sure you believe Manjrekar when he says "once the match was over he was happy that India was one of the teams that was going through". Essentially just after Pakistan was kicked out of the tourney in one of the biggest match they had played in a while, and while rest of the Pak players were contemplating how to get home safely from the Lahore or Karachi airport, Miandad was being nostalgic in the Indian dressing room! Yeah right! I am sure of Manjrekar says so it must be true.

[Clarke]

Should be a lesson for all extreme fans everywhere such as those who commit suicide' date=' burn effigies and go after player's houses after games.[/quote'] There are no justifications for the above actions. Sporting rivalries stay on the field (and forums in this age) and not dragged elsewhere.

[Cricket_Guru]

im an indian and i am ashamed to be grouped with the above dolts who doubt this. guy was playing his last odi, no longer has a rivalry and is allowed to show some emotion.

OMG, are you an indian? :cantstop: am confused :nervous:

[nballa]

OMG' date=' are you an indian? :cantstop: am confused :nervous:[/quote'] as much as that surprises you, yes i am. but unlike these fans i am not blinded by nationalistic pride. i appreciate good cricket regardless who plays it. i mean i will be happy if india wins the wc no doubt but won't be sad if these overpaid, spoilt, partying romeos crash out of the first round. indian players these days lack discipline/hardwork and are poor role models.

[Ultimate_Game]

as much as that surprises you' date=' yes i am. but unlike these fans i am not blinded by nationalistic pride. i appreciate good cricket regardless who plays it. i mean i will be happy if india wins the wc no doubt but won't be sad if these overpaid, spoilt, partying romeos crash out of the first round. indian players these days lack discipline/hardwork and [b']are poor role models.

Sure all the good role models are across the Border such as Afridi, Akhtar, Asif, Butt, Aamer, Akmal etc. I am sure you must be gutted ICC banned some of these role models. After all how can Tendulkar be a good role model when you have Afridi to emulate.