It was a sad end to the career of a mercurial cricketer when Javed Miandad walked off accompanied by boos in Bangalore.
Think of Javed Miandad and many will recollect the last-ball six that he smashed off Chetan Sharma in the final in Sharjah in 1986. However, Miandad's reputation was far more than that incident. He was the only player to feature in the first six editions of the World Cup and he is still the leading run-scorer for Pakistan in Tests. Miandad was a fighter on the field and sometimes he took it too far, but he was never the one to bat an eyelid in the face of adversity. He came out of retirement to play his sixth World Cup but his farewell did not turn out to be a fairy-tale one.
Miandad was a member of Imran Khan's victorious team during the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Following the win, Pakistan was named as the hosts, along with India and Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup. The final was slated to be held in Lahore and Miandad hoped to sign off on a high at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore. However, Pakistan's journey was cut short by India in the 1996 World Cup quarterfinal in Bangalore.
India posted a commanding total of 287/8 thanks to Navjot Singh Sidhu's fine knock of 93 and Ajay Jadeja's pyrotechnics (45 off 25) towards the end of the innings. When Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar got Pakistan off to a good start in response to India's score, the Pakistan camp looked a merry bunch of cricketers who despite their differences and infighting, were always united when it came to matches against India.
At 113/2 after 15 overs, Pakistan were in command. But, things soon tilted in favour of India as they picked up quick wickets. Pakistan still had some hope as Miandad was at the crease, and although the 39-year-old was struggling with his scoring rate, his experience in pulling of something special in tough situations, would have kept India wary. However, in what turned out to be a tame end to the career of a mercurial cricketer, Javed was run out on 38 and India went on to win the game by 39 runs.
The send off too was not a pretty one as the Bangalore crowd stood up to boo him out of the stadium while some present in the stadium applauded as the legend left the cricket field for the last time. His stats in his final series read thus: DNB, DNB, 11*, 5 and 38.
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