Cricket: You know what is the importance of 25 march in cricket history?

Pakistan celebrating 25th anniversary of 1992 World Cup victory:

In such days, cricket’s 5^th world cup approached with much allurement. For the first time, white ball was introduced. Traditional white uniform was replaced by coloured clothing with player’s name written on the back and country’s name on the front. First 15 overs’ field restriction was imposed and flood light matches were scheduled for the first time in world cup history.

Pakistani team joined the mega event in uncertain circumstances. The biggest setback came with the injury of Waqar Younis, who had to miss the event. Javed Mianded was initially dropped, but probably the public pressure forced the selectors to change their mind. Imran Khan, the skipper, was struggling against his shoulder injury. Most of the players in the 15 member squad were inexperienced and had the least exposure to the international cricket, let alone playing experience on the fast tracks of Australia or New Zealand. For instance, the opening fast bowler Aaqib Javed was not even 20, the wicketkeeper Moin Khan was just under 21, Zahid Fazal was under 19, Inzamam and Mushtaq Ahmed were hardly 22. Iqbal Sikandar and Waseem Haider were like guest players, who began their one day career in the world cup and were never seen again in the team. Saleem Malik was not only terribly out of form, but also out of mood, probably due to dressing room politics or god knows what?

Pakistan team had a most dismal start in the tournament. The team managed to win only one game in first 5 matches.

On this day in 1992, the Men in Green lifted their first ICC World Cup trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after defeating England by 22 runs and forever changing Pakistan’s cricketing history.

Opting to bat first, Paput up a total of 249 for six wickets in the epic final, with legendary skipper Imran Khan scoring 72 off 110 balls after wickets of openers Ramiz Raja and Aamir Sohail fell early on in the game.

Renowned batsman Javed Miandad joined the skipper on the pitch to put up a 139-run partnership for Pakistan, before Inzamamul Haq and Wasim Akram smashed a quick 42 and 33 respectively, enabling a target of 250-runs for England to chase.

In response, England batsmen failed to cope with Pakistani bowling attack, even though Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb did manage to scare the Men in Green after their 72-run partnership. Pace and Swing from Wasim Akram and Aqib Javed, coupled with spin from Mushtaq Ahmed were enough for the English batsmen to falter, allowing Pakistan to an easy victory in the World Cup final on March 25, 1992.