BOMBAY, 15 December 2005 — One of the reasons why the Pakistan cricket has had frequent changes of captains is that the officials, as much as the lay public, do not discount failure so easily. The skipper and his team, both have to perform. In India it is the same. The difference in the intensity of expectations is only a matter of degrees.
People just do not want to get into a debate whether it is a competent captain who makes the team good, or whether it is the other way round. At the moment, however, there is no need for any such debate, or any immediate worrying factor, for the Pakistan team the way it has touched peak performance, as individuals and as a team. A very strong England team, even more buoyant after a historic “Ashes” triumph over Australia, learned this to their chagrin. They lost the Test series comprehensibly by a 2-0 margin, the Faisalabad Test, in the middle of the three, was drawn after a stubborn rearguard by the visitors.
Now, here comes the captain’s role. There is no one who could have expected Inzamam-ul-Haq to do any better than he did. He led by such solid example that a few failures here and there were glossed over.
In probably his best batting form ever, he invariably held the innings together. What is more important is that he inspired the others, like Mohammed Yousuf, with a classy double-century to boast, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik and wicketkeeper Kamram Akmal, who repeated his batting feat with which he had helped Pakistan to save the first Test in India on their last trip. The most heartening aspect of the recent series was that Inzy was not only able to iron out his differences with fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, but was also succeeded in instilling a great sense of discipline in him and bring the best out of him.
Akhtar, a victim of frequent injuries, as also occasional recalcitrant behavior, was seen at his best. He was always at the throat of the England batsman and was as much instrumental in bringing about Pakistan’s ultimate triumph.
If Akhtar had any of his old niggles, he did not even once show and bowled ever so wisely under the captain’s valuable instructions. It has indeed been a long time since one has seen the two of them show such mutual respect for each other. This one big change in Akhtar’s attitude made all the difference in the team’s overall performance. It made a big difference to Inzy’s captaincy as well. There is no doubt that the Pakistan captain is a good student of the game and has always been so, but his confidence level was never so high as it is at present. This reflected as much in his batting. He is now the country’s highest Test century-maker, displacing his mentor Javed Miandad at the top.
