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March 14, 2003
A Disgusting Performance
Pakistan’s unceremonious exit from the World Cup has caused all-round frustration and anguish among cricket enthusiasts who fret and fume as they recount the team’s pathetic performance at family get-togethers. The discussion is often somber. There is no room for jovial tittle-tattles. The debacle, truly inexplicable, has hurt many enthusiasts who sat glum before TV screens for hours hoping against hope that a miracle would happen and Pakistan would make it to the Super Six. That was not to be.
Surely, it is not the over-simplistic ‘cricket-by-chance’ cliche or the ‘glorious uncertainties’ of the game that could be cited as an explanation for our shameful performance on the idyllic green-top pitches of South Africa. Our failings were all too obvious. The causes of defeat are not difficult to fathom.
The captain hardly appeared as an inspirational figure to members of the team. Standing nonchalantly at the fence, he appeared distanced from, and aloof of, the nerve-wrecking proceedings at the center stage. The stump microphone often picked up remarks such as “Yunus bhai ball karnae do” which spoke volumes of the respect that he commanded from members of the team. As if this was not enough, Waqar Yunus seemed to provide fresh proof of his inadequacies in every succeeding match. In the vital tie against India when Pakistan had rattled an impressive 273, he opted to change Shoaib Akhtar after the very first over! “The fear factor that Shoaib Akhtar represented had been eliminated,” aptly commented Omar Kureishi.
Then in the match against Australia, Waqar persisted with Afridi and Yunus, two casual bowlers, and did not apply the pressure when Australia had their back to the wall having lost five wickets for a paltry score of 120 or so runs. Had the regular bowlers been inducted in the attack at that critical juncture, Australia could have faced an uphill task in reaching even a measly total of 200 runs. They built an impressive score and went on to win. But it was not the better team that had won that day. It was poor leadership that had contributed to the better team’s defeat.
The team selection also raised quite a few eyebrows. Inzimam scored barely 19 runs in the six innings he played. After a string of failures, he could hardly justify a place in the playing eleven. Yet he was not discarded to make room for an in-form player. Yunus hardly showed the temperament for one-day cricket. His forward defensive plod, circumspect tabbing of the ball, were reminiscent of Test Match cricket. At critical stages when Pakistan was on the hunt for runs one expected Yunus to dance down the wicket and give the ball all he had - cracking fours and heaving the ball over the fielders’ head and over the boundary with an almighty go - yet he docilely pushed forward to see the bowler’s lips curl into a mischievous smile. There were no blistering cover drives, no scintillating square cuts, no powerful onside pulls.
Then there was Saqlain, the one bowler who could have slowed down the Indian charge, and who surprisingly was left out in the crucial match against India. To quote Omar Kureishi again, “I have a feeling that Pakistan’s think-tank has not been watching the other matches or not watching them with a critical eye. Once the ball has got soft then pace becomes a liability.” “You need Bichel not Brett Lee,” he made the incisive point.
Confusion worse confounded, the tour selectors brought in young paceman Mohammad Sami and all-rounder Azhar Mahmood in the last match against Zimbabwe, but the move came too late.
The team’s conduct on the ground too was a loathsome spectacle. The players appeared slothful - tired and exhausted. They trudged dispiritedly from one end to another and there was hardly any sign of urgency or alacrity as they batted, bowled or fielded. The camera seemed to focus on weary eyes. Did it betray late-night partying? The running between the wickets was pathetic and the batsmen were seen grounded at the bowlers end instead of taking start when the bowler’s arm went up - all adding up to a distasteful, disheartening spectacle. The fielding was of the substandard club level, and if the batting collapse accounted for defeat in some matches, in the all-important emotionally charged match against India it was the ‘bowling collapse’ that accounted for our rout! And could there be any explanation for the large number of extras and wide balls that added to the rival team’s score in every match?
It is regrettable that neither board chairman Tauqeer Zia nor captain Waqar Yunus had the strength of character to gracefully concede personal failings in the defeat of the team and to promptly tender resignation. Instead, a committee has been appointed to enquire into the causes of Pakistan’s rout in the World Cup! Business as usual. Boisterous bragging and tall claims continue. How does such an attitude augur for the future of Pakistan cricket? To be sure, one knows what is in the offing.
A comment in the Wall Street Journal by a gentleman called Tunku Varadarajan hurt Pakistani cricket enthusiasts profoundly a couple of days back: “The Brazilians, in soccer, are the most skilled, but are widely loved too. No one, not even opponents against whom they might be playing, reviles them. The Pakistanis, by contrast, are viewed with a mixture of awe and loathing. They squabble on field, hector umpires, swear at opposing players, have a history of throwing matches (for money), and generally comport themselves in ways that might be described as ungracious.” Today it hurts no more. - afaruqui@pakistanlink.com
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