Shahid Afridi Could Neither Bat Nor Bowl: Sohail Slams Pakistan Team's Selection In 1999 ICC World Cup

Sohail took a swipe at the then Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram and the team's selector by making a sensational revelation that former all-rounder Shahid Afridi could neither bat nor bowl during the 1999 World Cup, yet the management persisted with him as an opener in the marquee 50-over event.

Shahid Afridi gets dismissed by Courtney Walsh in 1999 World Cup (Image:Getty)

Electrifying yet inconsistent, Pakistan cricket has been infamous in the cricketing circles for the rifts and fault-lines among their senior cricketing stalwarts all through the 90s and the recent decades gone-by. Another chapter of the same was brought to the fore on Wednesday when former Pakistan skipper Aamer Sohail made quite the sensational claim over the national team's selection policy for the 1999 ICC World Cup played in the United Kingdom . Sohail took a swipe at the then Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram and the team's selectors by making a sensational revelation that former all-rounder Shahid Afridi could neither bat nor bowl during the 1999 World Cup, yet the management persisted with him as an opener in the marquee 50-over event. Sohail believed that though the hard hitting Afridi could tonk the ball on batting conducive tracks and exert pressure on oppositions, he did not have the skill to bat in English conditions which were heavily seam conducive. “Unfortunately, you opted for Shahid Afridi, he had ability on flat low-bouncing tracks where he would take on the bowlers and bring the opposition under pressure. But in demanding conditions, that is a big gamble. He was neither able to bowl nor able to bat. If I was the captain instead of Wasim Akram, I would have preferred Mohammad Yousuf.” Sohail was pretty candid in his assessment about Pakistan's 1999 World Cup campaign in the United Kingdom, making some pertinent observations about team combinations and fluctuating batting order which as per him could have costed the sub continent side the World Cup in the title clash against Australia. “So, according to me there were two reasons for your loss at the World Cup. One was that your team combination was not correct at all and the other that you opted to bat after winning the toss when you knew that it had been pelting down in London.” “When I was captain in 1998, we had decided with the selectors that we should have regular openers for the World Cup who can stay at the wicket and play out the new ball,” Sohail said on his YouTube channel. “From my cricketing experience and my observation, I can say that we played the entire World Cup like a local team. We had one line-up in a match and a different line-up in the next match with changing batting orders.”