THROUGH THE COVERS: Playing to their true potential
By Zaheer Abbas
THE good thing about writing these lines today is that the initial shock of that disaster in the desert has given way to rationality. Not that it has taken care of the pain; just that it is not ripping me apart like it was on that fateful day. Seeing is believing, goes the cliche, but it was unbelievable even as I watched it happening right in front of me. And, I am sure, the same was the case with all those who follow the game of cricket with any degree of interest.
Though it is technically correct to say that the match was over in two days, the fact is that it was all over inside five sessions, and in less than one hundred and fifty overs. In more statistical terms, the Australians needed just around thirty per cent of the allotted time and overs to leave the Pakistanis dead and buried. Rubbing the proverbial salt into the nation’s wounds is the fact that we were paying a few blokes in foreign currency to have such unprecedented disasters.
Even after the first Test in Colombo, I had made the point that the match was never that close as it appeared to many eyes. It was close only because the Australians had dropped as many as six catches in addition to a missed stumping by Adam Gilchrist. And still, the match would have been over inside four days, if not three, had there been no showers that ruled out play after Tea on almost every day of the Test.
The team management as well as many an expert in the print media unnecessarily played up the team’s performance, ignoring what was the reason behind it. As a result, the boys also got carried away, and had wrong notions about the team’s actual strength when they took the field in Sharjah.
On the other hand, the Australians entered the second Test as a horde of wounded lions. Though they had won the Test at Colombo, their pride was hurt in having uncharacteristically missed so many opportunities and allowing a bunch of rookies to actually pose a potential threat. They meant business, serious business, and went about it in their typical clinically precise manner.
Besides, they also had had a close look at all those who had made an impression in Colombo, like Faisal Iqbal, Yunus Khan, Taufiq Umar and Shoaib Akhtar. By the time the second Test started, the Australian camp had worked out plans for each individual, and executed them with a spirit that was way beyond the call of duty. Needless to say, they were helped enormously in this task by their rivals who were a judicious mixture of ineptitude and inexperience, which in itself is a horrible mix, but was made worse by an overdose of misplaced self-belief.
The defeat has basically underlined two key factors: first, the difference between the two sides in terms of skill and professionalism; and, second, the importance of making scientific use of computer data about the strengths and weaknesses of individual players.
For the youngsters in the side, the series is a baptism of fire. They have been thrown at the deep end, and, more unfortunately, left to their own devices, while the coach is taking more interest in needling the Australians rather than concentrating on keeping his players focussed. I agree with my friend Alan Border who reacted to statements made by Pybus by telling him to ‘shut up’.
The way ahead, however, is to keep faith with these youngsters. They definitely have the potential, and all they need is a sustained exposure at the international level. But that needs to be done under the guidance of some saner element with personal experience of the game at the highest level, and for whom the PCB may not have to pay in foreign exchange.
Taking a long-term view of the situation, I can simply say that the PCB should continue to implement its plans at the Junior and Under-15 levels. And this is precisely why the nation needs Tauqir Zia to continue in his capacity as the PCB boss. What he has done for the long-term good of the game in the country, few others can match. The rejection of his resignation, as such, has come as a relief to the lovers of cricket, and there are millions of them in the country.
THE good thing about writing these lines today is that the initial shock of that disaster in the desert has given way to rationality. Not that it has taken care of the pain; just that it is not ripping me apart like it was on that fateful day. Seeing is believing, goes the cliche, but it was unbelievable even as I watched it happening right in front of me. And, I am sure, the same was the case with all those who follow the game of cricket with any degree of interest.
