Had the Pakistan cricket team been preparing for a tug of war championship, we could have sat back and relaxed in the knowledge that the preparations were going just fine. After all, the boys have just beaten a team at the Pakistan Military Academy. We would, in fact, be looking forward to the days ahead with some anticipation. Unfortunately, however, the lads are preparing for an assignment that involves being nimble-footed, to counter the seam and swing of the moving ball in English conditions, by shifting in a fluid motion forward and backward in the crease; not digging your feet into the ground and pulling backwards with one heave after the other.

For some reason the victory impressed the Pakistan Cricket Board so much that it released a video recently on social media as proof of how strong the cricketers have become with the training. If the video is any indicator of fitness — which it is not — then it would also be equally significant that the victory came just two days shy of the 18th anniversary of Pakistan’s successful nuclear tests at Chaghi. The two things just don’t prove anything and have nothing common with cricketing fitness.

And if you have watched the video you would have surely noted the celebrations of the players post-victory. It was as if they had got a second chance by some quirk of fate and had redeemed themselves by lifting the T20 World Cup itself … or maybe the Asia Cup … or at least they thought they had beaten India somewhere.

Cricket and tug of war need quite different — often contrasting — skill sets. The video shared by PCB seems to be an exercise in public relations rather than an exercise to improve fitness levels

The fact is that the video did have material which suggested some management skills to portray something positive. This is not to hint at the possibility that the grand victory itself was managed, but the PCB would not have released the video had the result been the other way round. Isn’t that so?

And, this alone is argument enough that the video was nothing but an exercise in public relations rather than an exercise to improve fitness levels. And definitely no prizes for guessing why the PCB would want to indulge in one. Anyone in dire straits can do with a bit of that. The irony is that even a public relations exercise went so horribly wrong.

It could have surely done something better than a victory at a game of tug of war as some sort of certification for cricketing fitness. Some lap times would have done much more for PCB’s cause, for instance. But perhaps there was nothing impressive in that dossier.

And, while talking of fitness, the PCB could have done better by explaining why some of the fittest players were left out of the selectors’ shortlist. But perhaps there was no rational, professional reason behind such decisions. By releasing the video, the PCB has actually shot itself in the foot and is now struggling to answer valid queries being raised about this whole business of focusing on fitness while leaving out fit players.

Mickey Arthur would surely be thanking his stars for delaying his physical tie-up with the unit, otherwise he would have been forced to do some talking in this regard. The much-awaited coach who is considered by the PCB to be the messiah who will take Pakistan cricket, and by virtue of that the Pakistan Cricket Board itself, out of the hole it finds itself in right now, is due to arrive within days. “Finally the wait is over and Mickey will be joining the players,” a PCB official was quoted as saying to the media. The undertone of relief in his words was unmistakable.

One hopes he will be joining after having read the advice put forward by Geoff Lawson, one of his predecessors, who advised him to understand Pakistan’s culture before enforcing his viewpoint. “As long as he [Arthur] understands how the local culture works and how to get the best out of the players, he will succeed,” said Lawson. Advising him to avoid being on the wrong side of either the former players or the media, Lawson said it helps to get them on one’s own side.

Tinged with hindsight, Lawson said one can grow a certain culture, but can’t transplant it somewhere else. The balance, in his view, could be achieved by trying and working with the system that is there already. The tricky but truthful part in Lawson’s words was about Arthur’s ability to do that. “[He] probably didn’t understand how the Australian culture worked and he got sacked,” said Lawson referring to Mickey’s last international assignment.

Did this specific ability — or lack of it — feature in PCB’s calculations while making the decision? Anybody’s guess really.

humar.ishtiaq@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 5th, 2016