There are a number of parallels that can be drawn between Pakistan’s historic run to victory in the 1992 World Cup, and their run to today’s T20 World Cup final.
There’s the obvious – that World Cup was held in Australia (and New Zealand), and they met England in the final. Both matches were also held at the MCG.
But it goes deeper than that.
In 1992, Pakistan scraped into the semi finals by the skin of their teeth having won just four of their eight games in the tournament. They lost three, and only rain saved them in their round-robin clash against England having been rolled for just 74 at the Adelaide Oval. England were 1-24 when the rain arrived.
They also needed results to go their way. The last match of the round robin stages saw a match up between the West Indies and Australia at the MCG. If the Windies won, they were through, but if Australia won, Pakistan were through.
A David Boon century saw the Aussies post 6-216 from their 50 overs. In reply, the Windies innings never really got going. They lost regular wickets and were bowled out for just 159.
Fast forward 30 years, Pakistan lost the first two matches of this year’s T20 World Cup to India – a match they should’ve won – and before losing another thriller to Zimbabwe.
From there, they then beat the Netherlands and South Africa, before South Africa’s shock loss to the Dutch in Adelaide meant Pakistan’s final clash with Bangladesh became a straight-up knockout match. They won that, which set them up with a semi final clash against New Zealand.
Back to 1992. Pakistan also played their semi-final match against New Zealand, and it fared a similar way. New Zealand batted first and set Pakistan a target of 263.
In reply, Pakistan’s innings was beginning to falter when a young Inzamam-ul-Haq blasted 67 off 30 balls to reignite the chase. They eventually got home with an over to spare.
Back to the present, and New Zealand set a somewhat underpar 152 from their 20 overs. Openers Mohammad Rizan and Babar Azam never gave the Kiwis a chance, blasting a 105-run opening stand, and setting the innings up for Mohammad Haris to bring them home.
In that 1992 final, Pakistan lost both openers cheaply before skipper Imran Khan and Javed Miandad steadied the ship with a 120-run third wicket partnership. A 42-from-35 cameo from Inzamam pushed the total to 6-249.
The team then bowled out of its skin to roll England for 227 to secure a 22-run victory.
Speaking on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope, Aussie great Mark Taylor – who played only two matches in that tournament – said it was New Zealand who should have made the semi finals.
“(Pakistan) were the side that should never have made it,” he said.
“They shouldn’t have made the last four. They shouldn’t have been in the final because New Zealand were one of the form sides of that 1992 World Cup, but they found a way of getting into the final, and then played probably their best game.”
