Nobember 03, 2006

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Dark clouds hover over Pakistani sports as the Cricket World Cup looms ahead for March-April, 2007 in the Caribbean. It may be an opportune time to pause, step-back and recall the days when the sun shone brightly on Pakistan cricket. It is a tiresome mantra nowadays to pin blame on lack of money and resources as key causes for not performing up to standard. The real issue may be lack of fighting spirit.
Let us examine Pakistan’s test debut in India in 1952 – a time when there was little money, infrastructure, managerial staff, or coaching facilities. It was a team composed mostly of Islamia College lads. Yet in its second test match at Lucknow, Pakistan beat India by an innings through the bowling efforts of Fazal who took 12 wickets and Nazar who hit an unbeaten century.
Fazal told me that a leading Hindu newspaper ‘Partab’ gave a banner headline “Fazal Ki Jai” (Fazal is victorious). Fazal also told me that during Pakistan’s 1954 tour to England, Lord Hastings had difficulty controlling his laughter when Fazal suggested that he come and watch the Oval Test and witness Pakistan create history by defeating England -- at that time arguably the greatest English side of the 20th century.
Kardar was another upright figure who heroically built, organized and stabilized Pakistan cricket and skippered it to a string of great victories against India, England, New Zealand, Australia and West Indies during the pioneering era of the 1950’s.
Imtiaz was a fearless stroke player. He hit a ton in Pakistan’s first unofficial test match against the West Indies in Lahore in 1948. Pakistan nearly won that match. He was a daredevil player against the fast bowlers and an excellent hooker. The great West Indian fast bowler Wesley Hall in his book “Pace like Fire” mentioned that Imtiaz used to give him nightmares.
The Little Master, Hanif, was a rock of Gibraltar. In the long history of cricket, Hanif played arguably the greatest knock of all times when he defied West Indies bowling for nearly four days, scoring 337 at Barbados. He batted without helmet against the pace of Gilchrist, and with West Indian umpires officiating. When Hanif visited India during 1960-61, such was his reputation that an Indian cricket fan sliced Hanif’s hand with a hidden blade under the pretext of shaking his hand, ostensibly to prevent Hanif from playing in the first test match at Bombay. However, Hanif went on to open the innings in that match held on December 2, 1960 and played one of his best innings there of 160.
Together, all of the above lit the imagination of a young nation and helped inspire a sense of collective national pride and identity. Money was there as a need then, but not greed. The players played for Pakistan with pride and passion. It proved the old Punjabi adage “That a hungry quail fights with great ferocity”.
Former cricket captain and coach at Pakistan’s World Cup team of 1999, Mushtaq Muhammad, recently wrote a book clearly suggesting that Pakistan’s cricket team threw its World Cup game against Bangladesh. If so, it represents a sordid chapter in our cricket history. To date, Pakistan cricket has never recovered from that debacle, with the year 2006 being an especially dark chapter.
Undoubtedly, the incompatibility between resources and requirements is an issue. However, also important is attitude – belief in oneself and a willingness to fight against the odds. But an even larger issue – as demonstrated by the icons of yesteryear – may be character.