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

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. In a playing career that spanned ten years, Sohail played in 195 first-class and 261 List A Limited Overs matches, including 47 Test matches and 156

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s for Pakistan. He was a part of the Pakistani squad which won the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (known as the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992 for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth Cricket World Cup, the premier One Day International cricket tournament for men's national teams, organised by the International Cric ...

. An aggressive left-handed opening batsman, in ODIs he has won 14 Player of the Match awards out of 156 matches, thus winning a POTM every 11.1 matches, the highest ratio in this format for Pakistan when it comes to retired players just after his opening partner Saeed Anwar (28 in 247 matches or a ratio of 8.8).

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 cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

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, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

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

in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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 of ...

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 given out for nought in the final. In the 1996 World Cup Quarter Final in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

against arch rival

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, 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 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.

Post-retirement

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 In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

Wasim Bari. 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 (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

's political party, the

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right, Conservatism in Pakistan, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate of Pakistan, Senate and the larges ...

. 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 Sargodha cricketers Somerset cricketers Pakistani cricketers Cricketers from Lahore Politicians from Lahore Lahore City Blues cricketers Lahore City Whites cricketers Lahore City cricketers