Mohammad Aamer Sohail Ali ( ur, ; born 14 September 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator and former

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. 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 match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and 156

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for Pakistan.

Domestic career

Sohail made his first-class debut in 1983, a left-handed opening

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and occasional left-arm spin bowler.

International career

Early years

An aggressive batsman, Sohail first appeared for the national team in a 1990 one-day International against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and enjoyed a successful international career. He was an important member of the team that won the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (officially the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992) was the fifth staging of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in Australia and New Zealand from 22 February to 25 Mar ...

in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Captaincy

Sohail captained Pakistan in six Tests in 1998, becoming the first Pakistani captain to defeat

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

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. He also acted as acting captain of Pakistan against West Indies in Sharjah.

Controversies

Sohail played a big role in Pakistan's World-Cup triumph in 1992, famously telling

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one ...

that he might want to send his mother-in-law in to bat, referring to Botham's statement that he wouldn't send even his mother-in-law to Pakistan, after Botham was controversially given out for nought in the final.m In the 1996 World Cup Quarter Final in Bangalore against arch rival India, Sohail was captaining his side in pursuit of a relatively large target of 287 in 49 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 Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad (; born 5 August 1969), is a former Indian cricketer, Cricket Coach , Commentator who played Tests and ODIs. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling ...

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. 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.

Cricket administration

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

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

Wasim Bari Wasim Bari ( ur, ; born 23 March 1948) is a former Pakistani international cricketer who played in 81 Test matches and 51 One Day Internationals from 1967 to 1984. Bari was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman. At the end of his 17-year c ...

. He continues to work as a cricket broadcaster. On 4 February 2014, he was again appointed as Chief Selector of the national team for the second time.

Politics

On 18 August 2011, Sohail announced that he had joined

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

's political party, the

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Teh ...

. According to Sohail, the country needs seasoned and experienced leadership which he believes the PML-N offers.

References

External links

Pakistan Cricket Board: Aamer Sohail
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HowSTAT! statistical profile on Aamer Sohail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sohail, Aamer 1966 births Living people Allied Bank Limited cricketers Pakistani cricket commentators Habib Bank Limited cricketers Karachi cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistani cricket captains Pakistan Test cricket captains Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians Pakistani sportsperson-politicians Punjabi people Sargodha cricketers Somerset cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Pakistani cricketers Cricketers from Lahore Politicians from Lahore Lahore City Blues cricketers Lahore City Whites cricketers Lahore City cricketers People from Lahore