'I Didn't Want to Be Dominated' - Venkatesh Prasad Recalls 1996 World Cup Duel with Aamir Sohail

Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad recently shared his version of events of the infamous 1996 ICC World Cup match against Pakistan.

The match is mostly remembered for Prasad's duel with Aamir Sohail. After hitting Prasad for a boundary, Sohail walked up to him and gestured towards the boundary, saying that's where he would hit him next. In response, Prasad knocked over Sohail's stumps.

"It was actually sort of a slap (via the off-side), he came down the track and hit the ball towards the point and extra-cover region. I didn’t expect that coming. It was a high-pressure game, with 35,000 people in the stadium," Prasad told R Ashwin on his YouTube show, DRS with Ash.

“Before the incident happened, I was at the boundary line. They were smashing us. It looked like the match would get over in 45 overs. I was watching the crowd, standing at fine-leg. I could see everybody was on the edge of their seats. They couldn’t believe what was happening. That’s how the situation was.

“He came down the track and gave himself a bit of room and hit me for a boundary, he showed his bat and showed his fingers towards the place where he hit the bat. We were quite close, I had completed my follow-through, he said ‘I am going to hit you there the next ball’. I just heard him say that, I just used a couple of words and went back. There was a lot going through."

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Prasad added that Sohail's words fired him up because while he may have not been as quick as Javagal Srinath, he did not want to be dominated by a batsman.

"As such, they were smashing us and no one could believe what was happening. I, for some reason, though I was not as quick as Srinath, I would never want a batsman to dominate me. It’s been my character. The moment someone dominates me, irrespective of who it is, I would like to give it back.

"At the same time, you have got to keep your cool, make sure you’re in the game, make sure you’re able to think well and execute well. A lot of thoughts were crossing my mind when I was going back. I had to make a decision. Then I said ‘this is what I have practiced all my life.

"Bowl in the corridor, don’t give width to the batsman and bowl stump to stump’. And I just backed myself, kept my cool of course, didn’t really go back to what happened in the previous ball or what’s going to happen the next ball."