Bitter memories of the 1999 World Cup final and Pakistan's tragic defeat: Muhammad Sohaib

The star on this light green shirt was the first thing I learned to draw a star on paper in an unconventional way.

The first feature of this shirt was that it was as big as your size, it was as tight as it was. Were

On Sunday, June, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, we sat in front of the TV. There was sparkle in the eyes and faith in the heart.

Sure because four days ago I saw a fast bowler in a beautiful light blue dress falling to the ground and a 'lefty' beating the bowlers of this team.

The flag used in the closet, especially on August 14, was then on my shoulders and I had made ten rounds of the house with my arms outstretched like 'that' fast bowler and had promised to buy the same shirt from Abu.

By then, the idea that the team was invincible had turned into belief.

The confidence was also due to the fact that just a few weeks ago, Pakistan had beaten this yellow-clad team, and what a defeat.

Wasim Akram's run to the pavilion after taking the wicket, I was convinced that this World Cup is ours.

Trust and confidence in their place but also had some heart with this team. What else can a teenager do when he finds the people around him happy because of the 11 players he sees on TV?

Well, the match started at three o'clock, and then soon the scene began to change, the heart began to sink, Pakistan's batting began to stagger back to the pavilion. By then Shane Warren was hated.

Realizing the situation, Amy Abu started trying to make up her mind. "Lost, leave the TV off, what's the use ..."

But we were watching this fast bowler, who could turn the tide of the match in any situation. It was almost impossible to defend 133 runs.

So he went to the courtyard and threw six or seven balls from a long run-up. When he got some consolation, he sat back in front of the TV.

At 8:30 am, the world began to look dim, eyes filled with tears, Pakistan lost the 1999 World Cup final and for the first time in its life was heartbroken.

I was a child and we hear from adults that winning and losing is part of the game, but the defeat in the 1999 World Cup final was both painful and humiliating.

Saqlain Mushtaq's statement in a recent interview that "we lost so badly in the final that we came back from the ground crying" is reassuring that we were not alone.

He fell asleep crying at night and when he woke up in the morning, his neighbors, relatives and every other 'uncle' said some words which were enough to make the little one think.

"The match was fixed ... Thrown ... Booked Sold out

Even today, if you go on YouTube to relive the good memories of the 99 World Cup, you will definitely find videos regarding the 'suspicious' defeat against Bangladesh.

Pakistan cricket came down from the hearts of a generation that saw the worst performances in the final and we have not been able to erase the fixing stain from our feet till date.

The Justice Qayyum report, which came out the following year, dealt another blow. Although the Bandhari Commission on a few suspicious matches of the 1999 World Cup acquitted all the players of fixing charges, the Qayyum report painted a picture of Pakistan cricket. That was enough.

The uncles who used the term fixing in every sentence are now waving the Qayyum report.

Centurion 2003, Sabina Park 2007, Mohali 2011, Sydney 2010, Lord's 2010, Nottingham 2019. The list goes on and on. As Ghalib put it: "I wish I had died once."

The sadness for the 99 team is even greater because it was not an ordinary team, it was a collection of highly talented players in which famous bowlers like Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed could hardly find a place.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC before the World Cup, Wasim Akram had said, “People in Pakistan already understand that we have won the World Cup.

"It's an honor for me to be captaining so many talented players."

Usman Samiuddin writes in his book 'The Unquiet Wins' that' where there was intense tension in the country during the year 1999, the Pakistan cricket team performed well several times but it was probably the flames of a great team. It was like the last throb. '

So how can you believe that famous players like Saeed Anwar, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Thaqleen Mushtaq, Mohammad Yousuf and Waqar Yunus have not won any ODI World Cup.

Who was not in this team, a famous opener who was called by commentators as 'the most charming scene in the world of cricket' and legendary sniper Shane Warren is still a part of Pakistan's best XI.

A sniper who gave a new impetus to off-spin bowling and introduced a ball called 'Dosra'. Legendary batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq, emerging all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and world fastest bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

While Yousuf Yohana's batting ability and class was also visible, sixes were also hit on Moin Khan's front leg.

And their captain was Wasim Akram, the greatest left-arm fast bowler in the history of cricket.

However, if you look at the careers of these players, except for one or two, they did not get what they deserved.

In the same way, the players whose careers should have ended brilliantly were lost somewhere, as well as the generations who wanted to come to cricket inspired by them.

The search for an opener like Saeed Anwar continues today, the lack of self-confidence is the same and even today it does not take long for the batsmen to line up.

It would be wrong for all of them to blame the 1999 World Cup defeat, but there is no doubt that if the World Cup had been held by Wasim Akram on the evening of June 20, 1999, the cricket-related system would have been here in the coming years. Definitely strengthened.

Winning two World Cups in a decade would have increased Pakistan's importance on the world stage and would have weighed heavily on cricket decisions, but on the contrary, spot-fixing and doping scandals have befallen Pakistan. There was laughter.

When most of the team's older players quit cricket in 2003, the team that was merged after that was certainly not a substitute for a 'great' team.

Not only this, the traditional offensive style of Pakistan cricket also continued and the performance also declined. We went from a great team to a very small team.

I still remember at least three lies told by adults that year.

One is that we will not win or lose the Kargil war, the other is that the military government will prove to be very good and the third is that defeats keep on winning, it is not such a big deal.

Looking back today, 21 years later, this year has come to an end, but still the heart does not believe.

In the language of our generation and cricket fans in Pakistan, the phrase 'if it happened' may have come up after the same defeat.

If Wasim Akram had won the toss and elected to bowl first ... If Saeed Anwar had not changed the bat group ... And so on.

If they had won the World Cup ... Maybe nothing changed, what changed after 92, the system? What was the change in culture? Yes, the heart of a generation would not be broken, cricket would not be heartbroken.

What's the matter with the heart, even if the heart agrees, but when the same trick is repeated five times in two decades, it becomes frustrating.

The final at Lord's gave rise to a series of events that have not stopped.