"Went to Javed Miandad's house and had a great laugh" - Kiran More revisits iconic 1992 World Cup moment
Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Kiran More has revealed that there was no bad blood between him and Javed Miandad despite their much-publicized on-field spat during the 1992 World Cup encounter in Sydney.
He, in fact, revealed that he later went to Miandad’s house for dinner when he was in Pakistan, and the two had a hearty laugh.
Miandad and Kiran More were engaged in a verbal duel during the tense India-Pakistan 1992 World Cup clash, culminating in the Pakistani batsman famously mocking More’s jump behind the stumps.
In a YouTube interaction on The Curtly & Karishma Show, Kiran More revealed that India only gave back to Pakistan what they got when they were batting. He, however, clarified that no animosity was taken off the field.
Revisiting the incident, the 58-year-old said:
“Javed (Miandad) had a back injury. I kept on telling the bowlers, bowl it up to him, don’t bowl short to him. If you bowl it short, even with his back problem, it will be easy for him to play the cut shot. So he was getting frustrated. He was trying to drive the ball to mid-off and cover, but the ball was not going.”
On the confrontation between the two, Kiran More added:
“In Hindi, he was saying that, ‘don’t worry we will win this match easily’. And I said, ‘go to hell, we will win this match’. And there was an appeal down the leg-side off Sachin Tendulkar. I thought he was caught behind. I appealed and Javed swore at me. I told him to shut up, he told me the same. Then, there was a run-out appeal when I jumped and whipped the stumps. And he started imitating me. I gave it back to him. I covered my mouth with my gloves. That's the time when the mike was used. Umpire David Shepherd came in and told Javed, if you do it again, I’ll send you out of the ground.”
The former stumper, however, revealed that the two later caught up in Pakistan and had a laugh about it. Kiran More said:
“After that, I went to Pakistan. Javed called me. I went to his house for dinner. Till 4 in the morning we had a great time, a great laugh.”
There was too much pressure in that match: Kiran More
Giving a background of the incident, Kiran More explained that there was too much pressure on the players since it was the first India-Pakistan clash in the World Cup.
According to the former chairman of selectors, the tension played out in the middle. Kiran More explained:
“Javed is a good friend of mine. But that match, we were playing for the first time in the World Cup in 1992. So there was a lot of build-up from India and everywhere. It was not packed, but the crowd was making a lot of noise and we were under pressure. It was difficult for us to go back to India.
“When we went to bat, they gave us a lot. When we went to the popping crease, Moin Khan, Javed Miandad, Salim Malik were there. All were surrounding us. Imran (Khan), on his own, he would do something. So when we went to field, I was the leader of the team to give it back to them. I started it off, then Sachin (Tendulkar), Kapil (Dev), everyone was charged up. We wanted to win that match. And I started talking to Aamir Sohail, and then Javed came in,” Kiran More concluded.
India eventually won the match by 43 runs. Man of the match Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 54 took India to 216 for 7 batting first. Pakistan only managed 173 in response.
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