Governing a country of about 200mn is no mean feat. A country of diverse people, places and things, not to say issues, can test the best.
But if there is a meaner task in the land than this, it is probably leading the Pakistan cricket team. To begin with, cricket is not just a sport or a pastime in this Southeast Asian nation; it is, not by any great stretch of imagination, perhaps, second only to faith in the scheme of things Pakistani. Well, almost!
Certainly, the fortunes of the national team are treated virtually as their own by inveterate fans. True to the adage, a victory pretty much resounds like those proverbial thousand fathers to the teeming millions; conversely, a defeat fetches that orphan script.
But unlike other cricket countries, where loss of form is rarely treated as loss of face, in Pakistan, fans can unforgivingly seek heads. Yes, a high stake cricket reversal can often lead to career-ending consequences, especially for the captain.
Pakistan cricket has arrived at one such crossroads again, and this time, it is accentuated because not only did the national team, which is supposed to fetch laurels and keep the crescent-and-star flag flying high, failed expectations, but copped a roasting from Australian great Ian Chappell that was deemed a national affront!
In what appeared to be casual remarks to a female staffer of the ESPNCricinfo – the game’s pre-eminent website portal – Chappell suggested to Cricket Australia not to send out invites to Pakistan in the future. His choice of description for the tourists was actually harsher, if colourful: “Somebody’s got to give them a kick...”.
The comments unleashed a storm with two sets of views back home; one, about how unbecoming and rich it was for the former Australian captain to suggest this when the current Australian team itself had been clean swept against an underwhelming Sri Lankan team in the Pearl Island and has a decidedly, poor record in the subcontinent (besides losing to South Africa at home just recently); and, two, his remarks were well-meaning, coming from an admirer of Pakistan’s legendary cricketers and teams such as Imran Khan’s World Cup winning squad of 1992.
In fact, so telling was Chappell’s apparent chutzpah, it provoked the gentlemanly Misbah-ul-Haq, the current under-the-weather Pakistan captain, to make his displeasure public in an article published on a premier Australian cricket website. It could be argued, with reasonable logic, that Misbah had a point – not necessarily in reminding Chappell about the shoe being on the other foot when Australia tours the subcontinent, but about the hard-knuckle reality facing Pakistan cricket since it became a victim of terrorism in 2009, resulting in international cricket grinding to a halt at home.
Responding to Chappell’s suggestion to Cricket Australia about not sending the invite to Pakistan, Misbah countered: “If the Asian teams do no travel to Australia then how are they going to improve? I think there’s been a gap between the teams because we hardly tour. If we tour Australia only every seven years (our previous Test tour Down Under was in 2009-10) then how are we going to improve? The next time we will go there, there might be 8-9 new faces and just two or three players that were part of the previous tour.”
While it is true that Pakistan cricket has suffered immeasurably owing to the refusal by international teams to tour the country, citing security concerns, the fact is that successive governments; notably, including the incumbent led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – a known cricket buff who follows the team’s progress – has done precious little to retrieve lost ground by not engaging in any meaningful diplomacy at the highest level.
The argument that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) – the prime minister is its patron-in-chief – is the only authorised body entrusted with the task does not cut ice. The PCB has tried and failed to convince member countries of the International Cricket Council – save for a cash-starved Zimbabwe team that breezed through a costly short trip in 2015 – to play in Pakistan.
Back in 2009 Sri Lanka defied tremendous pressure from a regional country to tour Pakistan; the Test series, it is worth noting, was arranged with the understanding of the two governments at the head-of-state level. Short of that engagement, it is hard to imagine international cricket resuming in Pakistan in the near future.
The lack of leadership is apparent, and it would seem, has taken into its cold embrace the once redoubtable Misbah, too. It is a measure of how bare the cupboard has been that Shaharyar M Khan, the 83-year-old PCB chairman, who is also a distinguished former diplomat, had only recently, again, requested Misbah, pushing 43, to carry on until a successor is found.
Misbah, of course, has served with great distinction, both on and off the field and helmed, over six years of toil, one of the finest redemption stories in the world of sport by restoring Pakistan’s pride and honour following the 2010 match-fixing saga.
But as with all stories that come to an end, Misbah will do himself a favour by pulling Pakistan cricket out of misery yet again – this time by leaving with grace, not hanging on. “National interests” are not always served by replaying notions of “boy-on-the-burning-deck”.
Chappell may have been harsh in reading the riot act, but the series of reversals on the twin tour of New Zealand and Australia have driven home the eternal truth in a sportsman’s life: There’s a time to serve and a time to move on. The time has similarly come for ODI captain Azhar Ali to accept the writing on the wall.
As for Pakistan, it can do no better than to respond to the call of the new wave and install Sarfraz Ahmed, the bold wicketkeeper batsman, as the national captain across all formats. A country of millions of passionate fans deserves no less.
*The writer is Community Editor
KEEPER OF HOPE: Sarfraz Ahmed is ideally suited to usher Pakistan into a new era as the country looks for leadership change.
