BOB WOOLMER’S brutal murder has cast a pall over the World Cup. But it has also served to deflect the spotlight from the Pakistani team’s inglorious exit from the biggest cricketing event on the sporting calendar.

Although I certainly did not think Inzi’s team had a realistic chance to win the trophy after its lacklustre performance against South Africa a few weeks ago, I did not think it would be thrown out by Ireland. And while India’s equally embarrassing performance might have consoled some Pakistani fans, the fact is that our team was perhaps the weakest team in the West Indies, barring Bermuda.

Defeat is as much a part of competitive sport as victory, but of late, we seem to be getting more than our fair share of stick. While our team seems to do reasonably well at home, its recent record abroad is abysmal. More disturbing than its losses to the West Indies and Ireland is the fact that so few really good players are coming through to claim places in the national squad.

In the World Cup, we expected our bowling to be the weak link, while our batsmen were supposed to provide the firepower. The opposite happened as our batting let us down in both matches. The vaunted trio of Inzi, Yusuf and Younus got themselves out while playing terrible shots. And the vulnerability of our opening pair exposed the fragility of our batting with sickening regularity.

With healthy batting averages built on the slow, predictable wickets at home, our batsmen have seldom prospered on bouncing, seaming tracks abroad. Few of them have developed the technique to get into line, preferring instead the quicker way back to the pavilion of fishing and prodding outside the off stump.

This is one area in which poor Woolmer failed to guide the team. Perhaps he just could not instil the necessary discipline and application into a bunch of individualists. Or maybe he could not overcome the Pakistani macho culture that makes patience a weakness, and showy bravado a virtue. Whatever the reason, our batting seems to be in terminal decline, with no genuine new talent visible on the horizon.

In the bowling department, Shoaib Akhtar’s unending fitness saga continues. Add to this his predilection for banned substances, as well as his refusal to play as a team member, and you have a gifted maverick who keeps unsettling the team. However, in Asif and Umar Gul, we have two world-class fast bowlers.

Perhaps our biggest problem is captaincy. Despite his wonderful batting in the past, nobody has accused Inzaman-ul-Haq of being the sharpest boy on the block. The frequency of his run-outs reflects the speed of his mental processes. ‘Laid-back’ is a term frequently used to describe his captaincy style. ‘Comatose’ might be more accurate. I have seldom seen him engage in conversation with his bowlers when they are being punished, or pat a young player to encourage him when his spirits are flagging.

But whatever his faults as a captain, at least his authority was not questioned, especially by the younger players. Who is to succeed him, and build a new squad from the ruins of the current cricketing structure? The self-effacing Mohammad Yusuf, because of his earlier Christian faith, is probably out of contention. Younus did not cover himself with glory during his brief stint. And that’s about it.

Years ago, a friend said half-jokingly that the reason why Imran Khan and Kardar were so successful was that because of their education and class, they did not mingle easily with the players. Captains like Miandad and Mushtaq were from the ‘other ranks’, and therefore had problems imposing discipline on the players. I do not necessarily uphold the validity of this class analysis, but there is something to it.

And finally, there is the flabby cricketing superstructure that feeds off the game. The Board of Cricket Control of Pakistan (BCCP) has become a monstrous bureaucracy with an inflated bank balance, owning property across the country. It can also make and break careers. Thus, being nominated to this entity is a very cushy slot, and the government puts in its favourites without considering their cricketing credentials. The result is before us in the shape of Dr Naseem Ashraf, the current BCCP chairman. I am sure he is a good person and an excellent physician, but apart from his friendship with General Musharraf, what is his claim to the job? And now that he has had the grace to quit, why is he being asked to withdraw his resignation?

A couple of months ago, the legendary fast bowler Waqar Yunus recounted his humiliation at the hands of Dr Naseem while speaking on a private TV channel. This was when he was briefly appointed the bowling coach to the national squad; and I am sure that had he been present for the World Cup, the team would have performed much better.

But why pick on our performance in cricket alone? We have hit rock bottom in all other sports as well. There was a time, and not all that long ago, when Pakistan was a major force in squash and hockey. In wrestling as well as in track events, Pakistani athletes did not disgrace us by their performance. But now, a scrutiny of timings shows a marked decline while the rest of the world improves every year.

Here again, it’s the same story: sports bodies are headed by retired army officers and other time-servers. Most of the small budgets are spent on administrative expenses. Coaching and facilities are abysmal. While other countries invest in infrastructure at every level, starting from schools, we waste our resources.

Thus, despite our burgeoning population, we are at the bottom of the sporting ladder regionally as well as internationally. Again, it’s not so much the winning or the losing that matters, but the manner in which we lose. Pakistan has simply stopped figuring on the medals table at most international competitions.

But why focus on sports alone? The attitudes I have discussed here are equally apparent in all spheres, and can be summed up by the ‘sub chalta hai’ syndrome that come to characterise our approach to life.