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April 13, 2003
History of a passion
As the true savant of our cricket Omar Kureshi says in his foreword, Latif Jafri’s voluminous History of Pakistan Test Cricket “will take you down memory lane and will chronicle the love-affair which remains passionate”. The book’s 645 pages would furnish the reader with a wealth of incalculable value. Here is all that you ever wanted to know about Pakistan cricket. Also to be found here is a great deal that you perhaps did not know was worth your knowing. By all reckoning it is an encyclopaedia of Pakistan’s Test cricket.
Those who know the author would not be surprised to see such a comprehensive handbook on cricket which is everybody’s cup of tea in this cricket-crazy country. Lateef Jafri has been a working journalist for over half a century. Sports has been his specialist interest, and cricket a matter of commitment and passion. Omar Kureshi describes this history as a “labour of love”. And who else is better qualified to say that?
The table of contents (33 chapters spread over 297 pages) adds up to an impressive curtain-raiser to the entire book. Appropriately, the final chapter is a summing up. It contains the author’s selection of what he chooses to call the “The best team.” In his view, this team is the distilled essence of Pakistan Test cricket so far. On a selection like this opinions would differ. But since everybody has a right to hold an opinion, surely Lateef Jafri has a very special right on the strength of his experience and close association with the game and its players.
LJ’s selection includes: Mohammad Hanif, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Imtiaz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Imran Khan (Captain), Wasim Akram, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis, Iqbal Qasim.
What makes the book a ‘must’ for any thinking cricket fan in Pakistan, or any news organization, is the mine of facts, figures, statistics. Here is a mine — 345 pages in small print. This is by all standards a thorough professional job, done by a dedicated cricket devotee. Here is information, knowledge and, above all, education for the young as well as the old follower of Pakistan Test cricket and cricket as Pakistan has played against all great sides in the world cricket arena. The reader will be pleased to learn that Pakistan has beaten, at least once, every Test cricket playing team in the world: India, England, New Zealand, Australia and the West Indies.
Admittedly this is not the first book throwing light on the history of Pakistan cricket. Earlier attempts, creditable in their own way, stand to the names of Abid Qazi, Masood Hamid and Ben Lawrence. But these were limited in scope. Shujauddin Butt, himself a Test cricketer, came out with his From Babes of Cricket to World Champions (1996). It was an impressive addition to literature on Pakistan cricket. However, not being a professional sports scribe, Butt’s book did not contain the ‘vital statistics’ of the game that LJ’s history offers in awesome amplitude.
As the title warns the reader, this is a book of the history of Test cricket. Evidently, the author thought that one-day cricket is quite a separate version of cricket and Test and ODIs would not mix. He is right. The ODI field is open and so far virgin. What this book should do is to inspire some courageous cricket-writer to undertake a book on the History of One Day cricket of Pakistan, domestic as well as at the international level.
In all cricket-playing nations this game is a passion, a culture bordering on craze or mania, if it would be out of order to say ‘religion’. So it is in Pakistan. LJ has played it remarkably cool. There is no patriotic zeal. History is treated as history and hence too sacred to permit passion, patriotism or poetic flights of fancy.
One would not fail to note that the title of the book is attractive. Portraits of three greats of Pakistan cricket greet the reader. They are Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Fazal Mahmood and Hanif Mohammad. Others have been shown in action. The picture of the World Cup, won by Imran Khan’s team, is also there. This is a heart-warming ensemble. What surprises, however, is the lacklustre pictures of stars reproduced in black and white.
History of Pakistan Test Cricket
By Lateef Jafri
Royal Book Company BG-5, Rex Centre Basement, Zaibunnisa Street,
Karachi-74400
Tel: 021-568 4244.
Email: royalbook@hotmail.com
ISBN 969-407-282-4
645pp. Price not listed
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