Pakistan's 1992 World Cup campaign didn't start as the finish may suggest. They had just one win in their first five matches before legendary skipper Imran Khan asked his side to fight like 'Cornered Tigers'. Next up, they forged victory against Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand to reach the semi-finals with four wins and a no result.
After defeating Martin Crowe's men in the semis, Pakistan were up against Graham Gooch's England at Melbourne. Imran Khan won the toss and elected to bat first seeing the potential of rain.
Pakistan's innings started off shakily as Derek Pringle reduced them to 24 for two in nine overs. The experienced Javed Miandad and Imran Khan dropped anchor and took their time to settle down. The duo put on 139 runs for the third wicket before Miandad was out after making 58 runs off 98 balls that included four hits to the fence.
Imran Khan continued his strokeplay as he was joined by semi-final hero Inzamam-ul-Haq. Imran Khan went on to make 72-runs off 110 ball in an innings that included five boundaries and one maximum. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram, started getting the runs as a brisk pace. The duo scored 52 runs from six overs as they carved the ball to the fence with ease and found the gaps.
Inzamam scored 42 off 35 balls while Wasim hit 33 off 18 before the pair were out in the two balls of innings. Pakistan scored 249/6 with 153 runs coming off the last 20 overs.
England required 250 runs to make history while Pakistan needed to keep a quality English batting line-up at bay to claim the extraordinary feat.
Ian Botham, who opened with skipper Gooch, was sent packing by Wasim Akram for a duck. Aaqib Javed from the other end kept the pressure on the English batting with economical overs and the wicket of Alec Stewart.
Soon, England were reduced to 69/4 after leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed claimed two wickets. Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb kept England in the hunt building a decent partnership. At one point, it seemed like England were running away with the match before Imran Khan unleased his go-to man.
Wasim Akram came back for another spell and produced magic. He uprooted the stumps of Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in consecutive deliveries to put Pakistan back in the game. The deliveries were swinging unbelievably as Akram first knocked off Lamb's off stump after angling the ball towards his legs and he removed Lewis's middle stump after swinging it from way outside the off-stump.
After the fall of the two wickets, Neil Fairbrother couldn't go much further as he was caught behind to become Aaqib Javed's second scalp. Soon after, England were bowled out for 227 runs to hand Pakistan a 22 run win.
Wasim Akram was adjudged Man of the Match for his superb all-round display and he said the feeling of winning the trophy didn't sink in for a couple of days.