ANYONE who loves cricket has two teams: his own and the West Indies. That none of the two are in the Super Six stage is a matter of personal sorrow and grief. And let me be frank, the absence of West Indies is a much bigger loss than that of Pakistan.
The kind of cricket they played in the initial phase suggested that even if they had qualified for the next stage by some twist of fate, they would have only prolonged the agony of a whole nation. It is good that there are no more false hopes to cling on to, and we can enjoy the World Cup without wearing the emotions on our sleeves.
The West Indians, in contrast, are well within their rights to feel deprived of a possible qualification. They were playing great cricket. It was after such a long time that they appeared to be in their elements, putting in a truely collective effort, and behaving like a cohesive unit.
Chris Gayle, Wavel Hinds, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Shivranine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarawan and Ricardo Powell, they all made an impact with the bat. There were no constant failures — like Inzamamul Haq, for instance — and there were no superstars — like Tendulkar, for instance. There was no visible over-dependence on Lara, as others performed with equal credit when he failed to move on. And, with that pressure gone, Lara himself enjoyed a good run of form.
But more than the batting form, it was the thinking and planning behind the effort that made this West Indian outfit look so much more different from what we have seen in the last, say, ten years. Everyone on air, including Michael Holding and Tony Cozier who have such a close association with West Indies cricket, remarked that the team was playing a bowler short. But Gayle, Hooper and Hinds did the job wonderfully well. In fact, there were occasions when they had to shield some of their frontline bowlers. It was a sound strategy that was executed with passion on the field. They are not part of the Super Sixes basically because they had their match against Bangladesh washed out.
The same, however, cannot be said about Pakistan’s disgusting exit from the tournament even though they also had their match against Zimbabwe washed out. But this was only an excuse for an otherwise appalling performance both on and off the field. They well and truely disgraced themselves, and the team management is as much responsible as the players. Photographs around the world showing Inzamam getting physical with Younis Khan during a training session said so much about the mood in the camp.
If Pakistan cricket is to survive with any semblance of professional dignity, I am afraid it will have to do away with the coach without even thinking twice. I have always voiced the view, and here I do it again, that this man from the wilderness of South Africa has nothing to do with international cricketing skills. In all fairness, he should not be blamed for the absence of any gameplan for the team, because he is not equipped to devise a gameplan and contingencies. We should blame ourselves for having made the wrong choice, and, even worse, for having persisted with it. If heads are going to roll, his should be the first one. That should be the first step for us to look beyond the World Cup.
ANYONE who loves cricket has two teams: his own and the West Indies. That none of the two are in the Super Six stage is a matter of personal sorrow and grief. And let me be frank, the absence of West Indies is a much bigger loss than that of Pakistan.
