The Pakistan cricket team is not firing properly on any one of its 11 cylinders, including the three in reserve. From all accounts, the boys seem demoralised, listless and wayward. Of the matches played thus far, we were badly mauled by the Windies and deeply humiliated by the English. As for the one against Zimbabwe, our exploits were nothing to write home about. What, in God’s name, is going on and why?
Even before the team left, it was abundantly clear that Waqar Yunus was unfit. He couldn’t bowl a single over during net practise. Where the expert doctor diagnosed a stress fracture, our selectors thought otherwise. In the event, he had a free ride to Australia and back.
Then, no one thought it worthwhile to import some white balls and give the boys a chance to check them out. The shine on the white ball lasts longer than on the red and it also seams more. As it is, our batsmen and bowlers are all at sea with it now.
The selection of the team was undoubtedly bungled. Saleem Jaffar and Akram Raza were declared non trata and sent back post haste. How did they change their colours overnight and become unsuitable for Australian pitches? Now we have two second-rate leg spinners and are sorely missing out on an off-spinner like Iqbal Qasim.
As for captain Imran Khan’s ‘fierce motivation’ to win the cup, we don’t like it one bit, Khan says that his motivation is of a purely private nature. He is concerned about the fate of his cancer hospital and has been advised to stay in the limelight if he wants to raise funds for it. No one has the courage to tell him plainly that his private motivation is adversely affecting the morale of his team. If every player were to follow suit and play for himself, as Imran is doing and as Rameez Raja did against the Windies, rather than for team and country, we might as well ask the boys to pack their bags and call it a day.
Then there is the issue of who should lead the team. Saleem Malik is properly in line to become captain after Imran and Miandad retire. When the team left,Miandad was thought a non-starter ad Malik was appointed vice-captain. When Miandad was desperately recalled, Malik lost his due and sulked. What a royal mess this is.
If both Imran and Miandad are ageing, unfit warriors, wouldn’t it have been proper to appoint star batsman Saleem Malik and star bowler Wasim Akram as captain and vice-captain respectively and tell Khan and Miandad to groom them in the jobs under their tutelage in the World Cup? A leaf from the Windies’ book might have been taken. After Vivian Richards voluntarily retired as captain, he said he was available to play in the World Cup under Richardson. Although the Windies foolishly didn’t take Richards up on his generous offer, Imran Khan could well have responded in the same spirit in the twilight of his grand career. After all, aren’t former captains Kapil Dev and Vengsarkar playing under Azharuddin in the Indian team? Isn’t former captain Botham playing under Gooch? Pity the Pakistani selectors who must eve now scrape and grovel before the whimsical Great Khan.
Imran Khan now says he won’t play in a match unless he can bowl also. This is ridiculous. Khan has an honourable place in the team as a batsman, not as a bowler. Why doesn’t he get off his high horse and stop farting about? As it is, he stands out like a sore thumb among his middle-class playmates who are beginning to resent his standoffish ways and authoritarian behaviour.
It isn’t too late to sort out things, have a determined go at the Cup and give us our money’s worth. The captain needs to establish a line of communication with the boys. What is missing is a sense of comaraderie. This should be followed by continuous pep-talks. Some important cricketing lessons, too, should be drummed into them after their private irks and kinks have been ironed out. (Did you see how the England bowlers fruitfully sacrificed pace for seam, swing and accuracy while Akram and Jawed were hopelessly panting in to the wicket and spraying their balls all over the place?)
Imran Khan is the greatest cricketer Pakistan has ever produced. He made a mistake in announcing his retirement some years ago. But he was wise enough to repair his error and return to cricket when his country needed him. His country still needs him, immediately as a batsman and strategist of high quality and later as a guiding force behind efforts to build a new team to take on England in the gruelling 5-Test series in the summer.
But Khan must put duty to Pakistan first and his private obsessions second. And this change of heart and mind must be immediately and clearly reflected before the team. Otherwise, he will have only himself to blame for a bitter end to a truly glorious career.