Former Indian cricketer Vinod Kambli had spilt beans on the shocking incident from 1997 Sahara Cup when Inzamam ul Haq entered the stands to confront Indian fans, who were reportedly directing slurs at the Pakistani cricketers.
While speaking on The Greatest Rivalry podcast, Kambi remarked that he was in the dressing room with his teammates and everyone was surprised when they saw a bat in Inzamam’s hands.
“In fact, that incident, because we were sitting in the dressing room and our team was batting, the Indian team was batting, we were sitting there in the dressing room and then suddenly we saw Inzi just trying to show for a bat,” Kambli said.
“He was just pointing out a bat, so I saw the 12th man taking the bat, and passing by his dressing room and passing our dressing room too and went from there straight to Inzi. The entire incident was like, you were literally shocked. It was a shocking moment for all of us,” he added.
Inzamam, who was at the slip position initially, got fed up with constant slurs and provocative remarks thrown at him and decided to change his fielding position. The whole drama took a shocking turn when the former skipper asked the 12th man to bring a willow.
“We were first of all questioning how come a 12th man is taking a bat to Inzamam, and then the entire incident, whatever happened, but for what it was, it was shocking, it was really shocking. We were discussing it with each other why this thing had happened,” revealed Kambli.
In the same podcast, Kambli revealed that he still cherishes the moments shared with Pakistani cricketers, despite the heated on-field rivalry.
“Playing against Pakistan, on the field, we had the rivalry, but off the field, they are all my friends, Waqar [Younis], Wasim [Akram], and the rest of them, we had that kind of friendship which we still cherish. When we used to play, we gave our hearts out, we used to give our best,” concluded Kambli.
