WE will come later to the nitty-gritty of what brought about the victory in Lahore, but first let’s celebrate a victory that has sure lifted the morale of those who follow the fortunes of the national team. It was indeed heartening, and must have come as a surprise to the South Africans who had entered the game with a lot of momentum that was generated by their 3-2 victory in the One Day series that had preceded the Tests.
The performance was good enough for us to hope that Pakistan would not allow the South Africans to sneak back into the equation as they did in the one-dayers where they were 0-2 down, but clinched the series by winning the last three games in a row. A series victory against a respectable side will be great for the national side and I am already look forward to it.
Getting down to what happened on the field, it was heartening that the players clicked like a unit, and performances came both from batsmen and bowlers. But, as in the case of individuals, it is too early to say that we have the nucleus of a future side in place.
It is customary for Pakistanis, especially those who deal with sport administrations, to blame ‘bad luck’ for the team’s failures. It is kind of strange that they never mention ‘good luck’ when the team does well. I had written in some detail in my last column about the One Day series where the two victories had come because of good performances by the players despite the fact that the games were as big a disaster from the planning and strategy point of view as were the ones that the team had lost. Let me be frank. The same applied to the first Test.
For instance, Asim Kamal, the debutante, had a good knock that influenced the outcome of the game. Does anyone really think that the selectors and the team management really banked on him to do the job that he did? Had it been so, he would have been given a day out against the Bangladeshis. He was never in the frame, his name was not mentioned once, and then suddenly he got this lucky break. It will be wrong on the part of the PCB to try to own his success. The glory should be all his very own. By the way, the LBW shout on the first ball Asim received in his innings could have easily gone against him. It was just his day, really.
By playing Asim Kamal ahead of so many others who have represented Pakistan earlier and are still young, is the PCB trying to suggest that the careers of players like Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal, Misbahul Haq and others are already over? Can this by any stretch of imagination be described as selection policy and planning? Besides, what about the selection of Moin Khan? The way PCB bosses keep stressing the element of youth, it looks like Moin must be getting younger with time. Otherwise, the PCB would have surely gone for Kamran Akmal who was earlier used in the absence of Rashid Latif. Let me be clear on this. I am not, repeat not, against Moin’s selection. I am only pointing out the fact that the PCB continues to behave in an erratic manner, and that the results earned by the team on the field should not absolve the cricketing authorities of their responsibility to function properly and with some degree of professionalism.
The general practice of ‘experts’ and ‘pundits’ is to praise lavishly when the team wins, and come up with scathing criticism when positive results stop coming in. Since I claim no representation in either group, I can afford to be straight. Nothing succeeds like success, they say, and that is exactly the case with Pakistan cricket right now. But, let me warn you, blunders at the policy, planning and management levels are bound to take their toll. Blaming it on ‘bad luck’ and ‘misfortune’ on such occasions will be nothing but demagoguery.
WE will come later to the nitty-gritty of what brought about the victory in Lahore, but first let’s celebrate a victory that has sure lifted the morale of those who follow the fortunes of the national team. It was indeed heartening, and must have come as a surprise to the South Africans who had entered the game with a lot of momentum that was generated by their 3-2 victory in the One Day series that had preceded the Tests.
