Badru has invented a maxim: Test cricketers are caught and punished for their involvement in betting, but bookies go scot-free
Once a bookie, always a bookie! An internationally known bookie of Karachi is my friend. There is no point in revealing his name. Let us call him by an assumed name, Badruddin alias Badru.
Cricket players either retire or are unceremoniously dropped or thrown out from the team. But the bookies do not retire. Badru has grown old and has become more seasoned and experienced in the art of betting. Badru has invented his own maxim: Test cricketers are caught and punished for their involvement in betting, but the bookies go scot-free. Badru is witness to the meteoric rise and fall of the Test cricketers for almost five decades.
Prior to the initial thrust of Islamization in Pakistan, about 35 years ago, Badru was a shrewd bookie at the Karachi racecourse events. Raju, Madhubala, Johnny Walker and Dewana, his favourite horses, never lagged behind in the races, and very often outmanoeuvred the horses of Pirs and Mirs. Betting in Test cricket was Badru’s second choice, and he occasionally indulged in it.
During the stunning Islamization drive, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto put a complete ban on cabaret dancing, nightclubs, liquor, bars, gambling, horse-racing and betting. Thereafter, Pakistanis became God-fearing, pious people on earth. It was then that Badru turned his exclusive attention to betting in Test cricket.
Being a close friend of Badru, I maintain intimate knowledge about some of his betting hitherto hidden from the Pakistani public. No one knows that Badru had bribed Hanif Mohammed in playing the longest innings in Test cricket. Hanif obliged him, and he played the longest innings in the history of Test cricket against West Indies in January 1958, at Barbados. As a part of betting, Badru had cautioned Hanif not to surpass the then world record of 364 runs set by Len Hutton. Thus, Hanif fiddled with an out-swinger from Atkinson, and was caught behind by Alexander for 337. Hanif remained at the wicket for almost 17 hours, and displayed astonishing endurance, concentration and application unlikely to be surpassed by any other player.
The British cherish the bowling record of their off-break bowler, Jim Laker. He had destroyed the Australians in 1955 by taking 10 wickets in the first innings and nine wickets in the second. Ten wickets in an innings is a unique record that can’t be technically surpassed. No bowler can take 11 wickets in an innings. It can only be equalled. If I recall correctly, Anil Kumble had equalled the record a couple of years ago.
I have my hunch. Badru is instrumental in restraining at least two Pakistani bowlers from equalling Jim Lakers’s world record of most wickets in a Test innings. I don’t have proof to substantiate my claim, but I very strongly feel Badru had prevailed upon Sarfraz Nawaz, who had taken nine Australian wickets in an innings at Melbourne, not to take the 10th wicket to equal the record of Jim Laker. Similarly, Badru seemingly had bribed leg-spinner Abdul Qadir who had taken nine wickets in an innings at Lahore against England (or was it India), not to take the tenth so that the unique record of the Englishman remained unequalled. It was a shared betting between a Pakistani and a British bookie.
Remember that fantastic hit over the fence by Javed Miandad on the last ball of the final over against India at Sharjah a decade-and-a-half ago? It snatched victory from the Indians. Does anyone know that Badru had bribed the Indian fast bowler to deliver a full toss slightly outside the leg stump to Miandad. It was not an unsolicited, but a solicited delivery destined to be dispatched for a six. Credit for incredible victory goes to my friend, Badru.
Many years prior to the incident of the fantastic six at Sharjah, Badru had offered a purse of US$5,000 billion to Imran Khan for not declaring the innings, and let Javed Miandad break the Garfield Sobers’ batting record of 365 runs. The Test match was being played at Hyderabad, Sindh. At that time, Javed Miandad was well on his way to surpass the record. He was batting on 280, and had completely demoralized the Indian bowlers.
The staggering offer bewildered Imran Khan. It left him dumbfounded. Badru looked at him searchingly, and said, “I perceive in you a future prime minister of our country. Please, accept the purse of US$5,000 billion and let Miandad topple the record of Garfield Sobers. You, as a prime minister, would need this amount for repaying the instalments of the loans Pakistan has borrowed from the IMF, World Bank, Islamic Bank, Asian Development Bank and the United Arab Emirates.”
Imran Khan turned down the offer. He declared the innings, and did not let Javed Miandad surpass the batting record of Sir Garfield Sobers. My friend Badru believes Imran Khan is under a curse not to become the premier of Pakistan. He doesn’t have money to repay the loans.
