THE recent happenings in the West Indies carry due significance for Pakistan in view of the forthcoming tour that is likely to be an interesting affair. In the good old days, it used to be said that every cricket follower has two teams; his own, and the West Indies. Such was the popularity of the team around the globe. Now when my own team is due to lock horns with my other team, it is a pity that neither of the two sides happens to be at its peak.
I do not intend to take anything away from the lads who have just returned from India after having performed well, but the team surely has to do a lot to reach the level of some of the leading outfits of the past. We will have a more detailed word about Pakistan team and its prospects in the West Indies once the unit is finalized by the selectors. For the time being I wish to restrict myself to discussing the West Indian team and the turmoil — yet another turmoil, mind you — that seems to have gripped the island nation.
The manner of play in the ongoing series between South Africa and the West Indies suggests things are not quite right off the field for the hosts. The sponsorship row at the start of the series itself was too damaging for the unit. The players replacing some of the seniors who were left out because of the sponsorship controversy, however, did well in the first Test. It happens often, as youngsters always have a point to prove and work that much harder under such circumstances. But the effort was surely too mentally exhaustive and emotionally draining for them, which can be seen in their total lack of application once the seniors returned to the fold.
Brian Lara’s two knocks in the second and third Tests, characteristically serene and ethereal as they were, could do little good to the cause of the team which went through the motions; something that has unfortunately become a matter of routine for an outfit which was once a proud bunch of world-beaters.
In the last few years, the West Indies has shown some signs of a possible resurgence at least twice. First it was under Carl Hooper that the team behaved like a well-knit unit and was visibly fighting even if it continued to go down. The spirit was there for all to see. The mysterious circumstances in which Hooper called it a day once again left the West Indies tottering. Then, under Brian Lara, the team gathered together to lift the ICC Champions Trophy in England last year, which was the team’s first major achievement at the international stage in almost fifteen years. It was a hard-fought win and augured well for the future of West Indies cricket.
With the recent sponsorship fiasco, Lara has once again lost captaincy, with the relevant authorities offering it to Shivnarine Chanderpaul who had stepped in to fill the role in Lara’s absence in the first Test of the current series. Even though Lara has scored a couple of good innings in as many Test matches on return, it is still too early to rule out any off-the-field tension over the issue of wearing the captain’s mantle.
Though the uncertainty and confusion in West Indian ranks would definitely benefit the touring Pakistanis, it will be a pity if it affects the quality of contest on the field. What is of paramount interest to the followers of the game — and, indeed, to the game itself — is the quality of cricket regardless of who wins and who doesn’t. Let’s hope for the best.
THE recent happenings in the West Indies carry due significance for Pakistan in view of the forthcoming tour that is likely to be an interesting affair. In the good old days, it used to be said that every cricket follower has two teams; his own, and the West Indies. Such was the popularity of the team around the globe. Now when my own team is due to lock horns with my other team, it is a pity that neither of the two sides happens to be at its peak.
