BOMBAY, 20 September — The present Pakistan team is a classic example of a side having gone astray for reasons other than lack of cricketing talent. Only a few months ago, it was a force to be reckoned with and ranked, along with Australia, at the top of the heap.
Today, it is losing every other tournament and so badly at that. The tale of Test cricket is no different
That this should happen despite having such an abundance of talent, both young and experienced, has astounded many critics. The abject failure of the side to reach Sri Lanka’s modest total in the recent ICC Champions Trophy was even more so.
As it had happened to the Indian team some time back, Pakistan’s rich batting potential may have got itself into a lean trot, a phenomenon that is not uncommon to most leading sides. But Pakistan today boast of probably the best bowling attack in the world.
It has an embarrassment of riches in the pace department, what with skipper Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar vying with each other in a manner that young talent like Sami does not even get a look in these days. Then there is the spin support of Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik, not to mention Shahid Afridi.
Such an awesome attack could help any side to win matches, given a reasonably good total. But the batting is just not clicking for Pakistan at the moment.
These are problems, temporary though they may be, on the field of play. The real and more intense negative effect on the team is being forced by happenings off the field. There are problems at the level of the team management and at the administrative set-up back home. But the main reason for the lack of togetherness from which the team suffers, is the denial of opportunities to play international matches at home.
Cricket has such a passionate involvement that playing at home and before their own crowds of supporters raises the level of performance to a much higher plain, individually and as a team.
The present Pakistan team has been completely starved of such a heart-warming experience. One international schedule of matches after another are being canceled on the grounds of lack of guarantees of safety of visiting players. After the Afghan war, this problem has become more acute. The Pakistan cricket team is reduced to playing what would have been home matches now at faraway venues, like Sri Lanka, Sharjah and Nairobi. Rightly can it be said that the Pakistan team is at the moment in exile.
This situation has led to a lack of public interest which otherwise would have been overwhelming and so much to the well-being of the players and the team. It is also true that the administration at home does not know what exactly the internal problems of the team are. They rely only on the word of the manager or team officials or from the dispatches itinerant correspondents.
The fall-out of this cruel alienation saw a dedicated player like Yousuf Youhanna being sent back from Nairobi on disciplinary grounds and then being reinstated almost immediately, when the team visited Sri Lanka.
Now, it has happened to coach Mudassar Nazar, who was asked to return home after Pakistan played just one match in the ICC Champions‚ Trophy. A question mark was also put against the continuance of Waqar Younis as captain. Happily, the Pakistan Board did not take the unprecedented step of changing a captain in a haste this time. There have been far too many changes of captaincy in the past , which have only resulted in bringing about a division in the playing squad on the matter of loyalties.
As if their own problems were not enough for the Pakistan team, the International Cricket Council decided upon itself to question the validity of their performance in the opening match of the ICC Tournament. Its Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) asked the host television network to provide video-tapes of the match to it for scrutiny.
All this was not necessary. If it is the unfortunate run-out of Yousuf Youhanna that they wanted to study, then there were as many replays that were shown during and after the match for them to have drawn their own conclusions. All the TV commentators were unanimous that it was sheer bad luck on the part of Youhanna that he slipped on the turf and just could not make his ground.
This was one more attempt at belittling the Asian members of the ICC. Earlier, it was the turn of India, which was so haughtily dealt with on the issue of the players‚ contract. ICC just did not want to know complexities of the problems faced by the leading Indian players over their contracts with their sponsors. It was only when the Indian players took a hard line that the ICC relented.
The unity of the Asian countries, with support of Zimbabwe and the West Indies, the dominance of the ICC by the white nations had been so challenged during the infamous Mike Denness issue that the powers that be had to play ball and drop the former England captain altogether from the match-referees‚ list.
Unfortunately that unity had not had its say during the imposition of the players‚ terms agreement on the various countries. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to keep that unity of purpose going in order to solve each other’s problems.
If any action is contemplated against Pakistan without valid grounds for the same, or untoward remarks recorded against the team, then it must be unitedly challenged, as in the days just gone by.
