MUMBAI - Exactly 25 years have passed on Monday since Javed Miandad smashed Chetan Sharma for a last-ball six to steer Pakistan to victory in the Asia Cup final in Sharjah but the ghosts of that day still continues to haunt the former Indian pacer.
Sharma, on the silver jubilee of that day, said he had faced tough times after the Sharjah match and credited his coach Deshprem Azad for lifting him from depression.
“I try to forget that six but people do not let me. People do not forget things - either good or bad - that happens during India-Pakistan clashes,” Sharma said.
“People won’t remember the hat-trick against New Zealand in 1987 World Cup or the good performance against England but that Miandad six is one thing they will never forget,” he said.
After being set a 246-run target by India, Pakistan needed four runs off the final ball to win the match and Miandad scripted a historic victory by smashing Sharma for a six. “I tried to bowl a yorker but that turned out as a low full-toss. But people should also remember that I was just an 18-year-old boy then and was facing a batsman of the stature of Miandad,” Sharma recollected.
Miandad in his auto-biography ‘Cutting Edge: My Autobiography’ has also mentioned that six. He wrote: “I knew that he would try to bowl a yorker so I decided to stand just ahead of crease....poor Chetan Sharma.”
Sharma said,” Kapil had trust in me and no one in the team said anything to me but I myself was upset. That was a very bad phase for me but I overcome that period with the help of my coach Deshprem Azad and friends.”
“My friend Vinaydutt Sharma received me at the Delhi Airport and did not let anyone meet me. Even in Chandigarh no one discussed that six with me. Azad sir helped me a lot,” he added.
