Aamer Sohail
Encyclopedia
Aamer Sohail (born Mohammad Aamer Sohail Ali on 14 September 1966) is a former professional Pakistan
i cricket
er and PCB Chief Selector
. With Saeed Anwar
, he formed one of the best opening combinations Pakistan has ever had.
debut in 1983, a left-handed opening batsman and occasional left-arm spin bowler. In a playing career that spanned eighteen years, Sohail played in 195 first-class and 261 List A Limited Overs matches, including 47 Test matches
and 156 One Day Internationals for Pakistani.
in Australia
and New Zealand
.
that he might want to send his mother-in-law in to bat after Botham was controversially given out for nought in the final. Sohail's most infamous moment on the cricket field, however, was in the 1996 World Cup Quarter Final against arch rival India in Bangalore. Sohail was captaining the side in pursuit of a relatively large target of 287 in 50 overs. With opening partner Saeed Anwar
, he got Pakistan off to a flying start. With the score at 109 for one, and Saeed Anwar (48) back in the pavilion, Sohail smashed a delivery from Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad
through the covers for four. Both players exchanged words, and Sohail unnecessarily pointed his finger aggressively at Prasad. The next delivery clean-bowled him and triggered a batting collapse which ultimately lost the game and eliminated Pakistan from the competition.
The loss had other causes, however, which included captain Wasim Akram
withdrawing from the match for mysterious reasons on the morning of the quarterfinals. The five batsmen following Sohail, Inzamam, Ijaz, Saleem and Javed all played poorly. This match remains a controversial one, for Aamir Sohail blew the whistle about players involved in match-fixing.
Sohail was at the heart of the match-fixing scandal that rocked cricket in the 1990s: as captain of the national team, his whistle-blowing may have negatively affected his international career.
Wasim Bari
. He continues to work as a cricket broadcaster
.
's political party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N)
. According to Sohail, the country needs seasoned and experienced leadership which he believes the PML-N offers.
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er and PCB Chief Selector
Pakistan Cricket Board
The Pakistan Cricket Board is a sporting organization that is responsible for governing all professional cricket including Test cricket and One Day International matches played in Pakistan...
. With Saeed Anwar
Saeed Anwar
Saeed Anwar is a former Pakistani opening batsman. A left-hander, Anwar is most notable for scoring 194 runs against India in Chennai in 1997, then the highest, and now the joint second highest individual score in a One Day International.-Personal life:...
, he formed one of the best opening combinations Pakistan has ever had.
Career
Sohail made his first-classFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut in 1983, a left-handed opening batsman and occasional left-arm spin bowler. In a playing career that spanned eighteen years, Sohail played in 195 first-class and 261 List A Limited Overs matches, including 47 Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and 156 One Day Internationals for Pakistani.
Debut
An aggressive batsman, Sohail's first appeared for the national team in a 1990 one-day International against Sri Lanka and enjoyed a successful international career. He was an important member of the team that won the 1992 Cricket World Cup1992 Cricket World Cup
-New Zealand:-Round Robin Stage:Co-hosts New Zealand proved the surprise packet of the tournament, winning their first seven games to finish on top of the table after the round robin. The other hosts, Australia, were one of the pre-tournament favourites but lost their first two matches. They...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
1996–98: Pakistan Captain
Sohail captained Pakistan in six Tests in 1998, becoming the first Pakistani captain to defeat South Africa in a Test Match. He led Pakistan through 22 One Day Internationals from 1996 to 1998, winning nine and averaging 41.5 with the bat.Career highlights and controversies
Sohail played a big role in Pakistan's World-Cup triumph in 1992, famously telling Ian BothamIan Botham
Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy"...
that he might want to send his mother-in-law in to bat after Botham was controversially given out for nought in the final. Sohail's most infamous moment on the cricket field, however, was in the 1996 World Cup Quarter Final against arch rival India in Bangalore. Sohail was captaining the side in pursuit of a relatively large target of 287 in 50 overs. With opening partner Saeed Anwar
Saeed Anwar
Saeed Anwar is a former Pakistani opening batsman. A left-hander, Anwar is most notable for scoring 194 runs against India in Chennai in 1997, then the highest, and now the joint second highest individual score in a One Day International.-Personal life:...
, he got Pakistan off to a flying start. With the score at 109 for one, and Saeed Anwar (48) back in the pavilion, Sohail smashed a delivery from Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad
Venkatesh Prasad
Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad is a former Indian cricketer. He is the bowling coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, having formerly performed the same role for the Indian cricket team from 2007 to 2009. He made his debut in 1996...
through the covers for four. Both players exchanged words, and Sohail unnecessarily pointed his finger aggressively at Prasad. The next delivery clean-bowled him and triggered a batting collapse which ultimately lost the game and eliminated Pakistan from the competition.
The loss had other causes, however, which included captain Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricketer and model. who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches....
withdrawing from the match for mysterious reasons on the morning of the quarterfinals. The five batsmen following Sohail, Inzamam, Ijaz, Saleem and Javed all played poorly. This match remains a controversial one, for Aamir Sohail blew the whistle about players involved in match-fixing.
Sohail was at the heart of the match-fixing scandal that rocked cricket in the 1990s: as captain of the national team, his whistle-blowing may have negatively affected his international career.
Broadcasting career
After retiring from cricket in 2001, Sohail became chief selector for the national team, his tenure ending in January 2004 when he was replaced by former national team wicketkeeperWicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
Wasim Bari
Wasim Bari
Wasim Bari is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 81 Tests and 51 ODIs from 1967 to 1984. Bari was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman...
. He continues to work as a cricket broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
.
One Day International centuries
Two of Sohail's ODI centuries were scored during the Cricket World Cup.- In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
- The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career
| | Runs | | Match | | Against | | City/Country | | Venue | | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | 114 | 7 | Zimbabwe Zimbabwean cricket team The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket... |
Hobart Hobart Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as... , Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three... |
Bellerive Oval Bellerive Oval Bellerive Oval, also known as its sponsored name Blundstone Arena, is primarily a cricket and Australian Rules Football ground located in Bellerive, City of Clarence, on the eastern shore of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia... |
1992 |
| [2] | 134 | 48 | New Zealand | Sharjah Sharjah (city) Sharjah is the third largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.Sharjah is the seat of government of the emirate of Sharjah... , UAE |
Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium is in the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It was originally constructed in the early 1980s and has been much improved over the years... |
1994 |
| [3] | 100 | 63 | Sri Lanka | Durban Durban Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism... , South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
Kingsmead | 1994 |
| [4] | 111 | 88 | South Africa | Karachi Karachi Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million... , Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan... |
National Stadium, Karachi National Stadium, Karachi The National Stadium is a cricket stadium in Karachi, Pakistan. It is currently used for cricket matches, and is home to Karachi's domestic cricket teams. The stadium is able to hold 34,228 spectators, making it the second largest cricket stadium in Pakistan after Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore... |
1996 |
| [5] | 105 | 96 | India Indian cricket team The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status.... |
Sharjah Sharjah (city) Sharjah is the third largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.Sharjah is the seat of government of the emirate of Sharjah... , UAE |
Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium is in the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It was originally constructed in the early 1980s and has been much improved over the years... |
1996 |
Politics
On 18 August 2011, Sohail announced that he had joined Nawaz SharifNawaz Sharif
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
's political party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N)
Pakistan Muslim League (N)
The Pakistan Muslim League is a conservative political party in Pakistan, affiliated with Western conservatism...
. According to Sohail, the country needs seasoned and experienced leadership which he believes the PML-N offers.