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Cricket's Greatest Pictures

Debris

Debris

Well-known member




Warwick Armstrong, 'the big ship'. Particularly like the first one, looks like he is out to get **** done.
 
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G.I.Joe

G.I.Joe

Well-known member
smalishah84 said:
Imran Khan's "Cornered Tigers" speech - YouTube
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Liar liar, pants on fire.

Pakistan's forgotten player sheds light on 1992 cricket victory - The National

The side were nearly eliminated in the competition's group stages before the weather intervened, forcing a match against England to be abandoned which helped Pakistan avoid certain defeat and, with it, elimination from the tournament. They would later sneak through to the knockout stages.

But was their miraculous turnaround really inspired by an infamous speech given by captain Khan, in which he referenced a "cornered tiger", as is widely assumed in sporting folklore?

Khan is now a prominent politician whose promises of an anti-corruption "tsunami" resound with those Pakistanis who watched him lead the side to victory in 1992, and who have raised their progeny on tales of his incredible feats.

The 10 other members of the team have also gone on to enjoy the material benefits of bringing home the trophy, although they have rarely offered any insight into how the side managed to achieve greatness. Perhaps the team's 12th man, Zahid Fazal, a largely forgotten man, whose role was limited to a few sessions of substitute fielding, could reveal more?

In the two decades since the tournament, Fazal had completely disappeared from public view and was rumoured to be somewhere in Sialkot, a town that is renowned for producing sporting goods, dentistry equipment and loud politicians.

We eventually tracked our man down, who is now, it transpires, the local ticketing agent for Pakistan International Airlines.

He hadn't known we were coming, but it soon became apparent that a nondescript office in Sialkot had considerable sporting pedigree. Fazal's boss, Khalid Hameed, is an Olympic hockey gold medallist from the 1984 Los Angeles games.

So, what about that "cornered tiger" speech?

There never was one, Fazal says, at least not one given directly to the players in the dressing room. Those were just remarks made by Khan to television commentators before a vital match with New Zealand. Nor was it the first time Khan had worn the tiger T-shirt that gave rise to the legend in the first place: "It was an old shirt that he had stuffed away in the bottom of his kitbag. He would wear it for all our crunch matches, especially one-day finals in Sharjah."

Khan had remained unswervingly upbeat about Pakistan's chances of success, even after the team's near-exit, and would say, at every team meeting: "We will win before we leave."

After the embarrassing performance against England, Khan repeated his mantra, but privately, some of the team thought their captain had lost his mind.

"After we were bowled out for 74, we packed our bags [because we thought we were finished]. But Imran insisted we would still win the World Cup."

Laughing, Fazal said his teammate Wasim Akram had joked that Khan, who would turn 40 later that same year, had "gone senile".

What they hadn't appreciated was that their captain was motivated by a simmering anger that first surfaced when the Pakistan Cricket Board unveiled the team's uniform for the tournament's opening ceremony.

He had asked officials, who wanted the players to wear lounge suits, "why are you dressing them like white people?".

Khan put his foot down and the team attended the ceremony wearing traditional cream-coloured shalwar-kameez made from boski, a cotton-silk fabric worn by Pakistanis on special occasions.

For Pakistan's final group game, the team had to beat co-hosts New Zealand to progress to the semi-finals.

Khan decided to pick a fight (if not a war) with his opponents, who had won all their matches to date and had emerged as improbable favourites to take the title. Only Khan begged to differ.

"They're just a B-team," Khan asserted in the run-up to the match, causing a media storm in New Zealand. Pakistan won the game and looked forward to a return match in the semi-final, which was also played against New Zealand.

B-team, Khan taunted once more, and Pakistan won again.

But they did so only after twice facing the most hostile crowds the players had ever seen. If a Pakistani batsman hit a six, there would be absolute silence. When New Zealand took a single, the roar of the crowd was deafening.

"They threw everything they could at us throughout the games. Afterwards the pitch was strewn with fruit, eggs and goodness knows what else," Fazal recalls.

In fact, Khan's tiger wasn't referred to in the dressing room until the final when, pointing to his T-shirt, he said: "Today we have to fight like this tiger."

And then he told the players why: "We must win for those green [Pakistani] passport holders, who are lined up by whites, and have dogs set on them. Do it for them."


The apocryphal story about Imran speechitating (yes, I made up a word, so what) his team's way into the Final is just that. It wasn't made until the day of the Final.
 
smalishah84

smalishah84

The Tiger King
G.I.Joe said:
Khan decided to pick a fight (if not a war) with his opponents, who had won all their matches to date and had emerged as improbable favourites to take the title. Only Khan begged to differ.

"They're just a B-team," Khan asserted in the run-up to the match, causing a media storm in New Zealand. Pakistan won the game and looked forward to a return match in the semi-final, which was also played against New Zealand.

B-team, Khan taunted once more, and Pakistan won again.

.
Click to expand...
:laugh:
 
nightprowler10

nightprowler10

Global Moderator
Some of the coolest acts you read about in history have been found to be mistranslations of texts/accounts or just downright lies. Usually you let things like that go because they make cool ****ing stories that inspire people. People like G.I.Joe who ruin these stories for others should have their ships burned and lands salted and their women force-dated.

smalishah84 said:
cornered tigers I assume? :thumbup:
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What are you on about? :ph34r:
 
nightprowler10

nightprowler10

Global Moderator
On topic, one of my favorite pictures is of Imran Khan ripping his sleeve while bowling relentlessly down under. The facial expression is priceless. I've never seen the pic online, but I'll scan it out of his '83 biography when I can find it.
 
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