The big party that the government organized recently in honour of Pakistan cricket team’s ‘victorious’ campaign in India, was nothing but an unsuccessful attempt to make the nation believe that perhaps we had won the World Cup.
The government should not have involved itself in the sporting affairs of the country in such a manner. It would have been much better had the PCB simply arranged a reception for the team instead.
All credit goes to the PCB Chairman, Sharyar Khan, the board’s Selection Committee Chairman, Waseem Bari, skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, coach Bob Woolmer, manager Salim Altaf, who is also the Director Cricket Operation’s, PCB and above all the players, who played like a team and registered victory against India in the One-Day series.
Instead, under the official patronage, members of the victorious team were taken out in a fleet of 16 vehicles, each player in a vehicle, in a shower of flower petals as colourful balloons dotted the sky. The team was received by the Federal Minister for Information, Shaikh Raseed Ahmed. The three-hour, day reception was followed by a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the PM House. He paid handsome tributes to the Captain and his fighting squad for winning the One-Day series and drawing the three-Test series, 1-1 after drawing the opening match.
Victory in cricket, is considered a matter of great pride. Defeat on the other hand, is concidered a matter of great humiliation for both Pakistan and India. National pride is involved which leads to a lot of pressure on players of both the countries to perform well.
Last year, after cricketing ties was restored, India returned home victorious after defeating Inzamam’s players 3-2 in the One-Days and 2-1 in the Tests. Therefore defeating India, in India was sweet revenge by a new-look Pakistan team that was tagged by many as the weakest team ever to tour India.
When Pakistan was down 1-0 in Test series, after the first Test in Mohali ended in a draw and were trailing 0-2 in the One-Day series, a number of experts bitterly criticized skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and coach Bob Woolmer for the handling of the team. Surprisingly enough, these very experts are now all praise for our boys. This only goes to show their poor perception.
However, impartial observes believe that coach Bob Woolmer and Inzamam together have done a wonderful job of making the present squad a great fighting unit. It was a total team effort and every player contributed his share in Pakistan’s successful tour of India, preceded by the tour of Australia where we were outclassed in the three Test series and were beaten in the triangular series.
SHOAIB’S RETURN: Prior to the start of the series Pakistan suffered a setback when strike bowler Shoaib Akhtar had to return home, following a hamstring. However, he has made himself available for the coming, two Test and three One-Day series claiming that he’s now fit for the coming overseas campaign.
Shoaib returned to competitive cricket after a lapse of three months, in a domestic match, on April 6. He looked impressive in his performance when he took four wickets for 22 in KRL’s 83-run victory over the SSGC in a Patron’s Cup match, in Lahore. Then he took five for 23 in four overs as the Rawalpindi Rams defeated Quetta Bears by 96 runs in the inaugural Twenty 20 tournament.
A section of experts have been saying that since Pakistan beat India without Shoaib, there is hardly any need of a world class placer who might create problems for the team management. Shoaib has been blamed for his attitude and he has figured in off-the-field controversies, apart from experiencing injury problems. But the fact remains that Shoaib Akhtar is a world class bowler and like a good number of fast bowlers, he too is temperamental. But Shoaib has never disgraced the nation by his actions, as our pace bowlers did when Pakistan was touring West Indies in 1993.
The infamous Grenada incident brought disgrace to Pakistan when skipper Wasim Akram, vice-captain Waqar Younis, Aquib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed were arrested by the police, not far away from their hotel, with two girls and having marijuana. The incident brought great humiliation to Pakistan in international cricket and the pacers Wasim and Waqar were fined Rs15000 for violating the code of conduct.
It seems unfair to single out Shoaib Akhtar as a controversial player and not a team-mate. Certain allegations have been made against him, but have never been proved and one of them was of his recent tour of Australia when the foreign press turned against him.
Pakistan needs 29-year old Shoaib Akhtar, who had played 144 Tests and 186 One-Day Internationals, provided he proves his fitness and that fact has been made clear by Wasim Bari. A fit Shoaib is capable of destroying any batting lineup in the world, a quality that has yet to be acquired by other pacers of the Pakistan squad, including Mohammad Sami and Rana Naveed-ul Hasan.
Pakistan is to announce its team for the coming West Indies tour on Monday and chances of a fit Shoaib can not be ruled out.
The big party that the government organized recently in honour of Pakistan cricket team’s ‘victorious’ campaign in India, was nothing but an unsuccessful attempt to make the nation believe that perhaps we had won the World Cup.
