There are times when you are proven wrong and feel happy about it. In fact, ecstatic. Pakistan’s thumping victory at the Champions Trophy was one such occasion. It was a victory of heart over mind. Iqbal, the poet, rightly pointed out in one of his famed verses the essential need for the heart to be left alone by the mind every now and then. It was just one of those days when the heart ruled. And what fun it is when that happens. Ask anyone in love and they will tell you what it is like ... at least till they get married, that is!

The victory and the manner of it have been said to have defied logic. That makes one wonder what precisely is logic. Come to think of it, success is pretty much like martial law; its own logic and its ultimate argument. When it is there, you can’t argue much and when you do, you do it at your own cost and peril. Probably Aamer Sohail will have no issues testifying that the minimum risk one runs in such a scenario is to find the egg on one’s face.

The victory also brought to light a couple of interesting aspects of society at large. Motorcycle processions chanting slogans on the streets were pretty much expected, but crackers and fireworks were a sort of surprise because you have to have them to make use of them and who stores such things in their homes? They are not available in your locality shops so the stuff must have been bought and arranged beforehand. And if the match had gone the other way (God forbid!), what would have they done with this stockpile? Sat on it till the next time? It was just as well that Pakistan won and they could avoid potential hazards.

If the team takes pride in being predictably unpredictable, the Pakistani fans are happy being predictably predictable

Besides, the interesting approach of Pakistani fans towards the game was worth following on its own. If the team takes pride in being predictably unpredictable, its fans are comfortable — proud, actually — being predictably predictable, wearing their hearts (not minds) on their sleeves all the time. Twittersphere and the man on the street are no different. The former uses imaginative memes, the latter’s expression is the most colourful of slangs in the vernacular. The mindset pretty much remains the same.

The initial debacle was perfectly logical and represented the victory of mind over heart, but it provoked intense reaction as if something had happened that was not just unexpected but was also unprecedented. Everything worthy or unworthy of a mention was found to be wrong with the team, the entourage, the PCB and right down to the ‘corrupt government’ that had allowed the Board to be managed by ‘such incompetents.’

Just one example would suffice to convey how preposterous the condemnation was. Of all the possible characters, people even blamed Misbahul Haq for the defeat. ‘He left such a defeatist mindset that it will take years for Pakistan cricket to come out of that mould.’ So went the argument. It was in absolute and utter disregard of the fact that the last time Misbah had played in a One Day International was back in March 2015. To blame him for a defeat in June 2017 was nothing but a reflection of how blind the fans can get.

An improved performance in the next game forced the fans to hold their horses. It was the game where Pakistan restricted the top-ranked South Africans to a below-par score and then clinched the deal on the basis of rain interruption rules. The next game where Pakistan all but faltered and yet crossed the line on the basis of making the most of the fortune that came its way brought about a new element in the public discourse: ‘the prayers of the nation.’

Next came the thumping win against England, and suddenly it was about ‘the blessings of Ramazan’ along with the ‘prayers of the nation’ that was doing it for us. The ‘law of averages’ also became a utility phrase. But India was surely a tough nut to crack, especially after the string of defeats in the last few years and the manner of defeat just a fortnight ago. When the team did take logic by the scruff of its neck and pulled off a blinder, the ‘law of averages’ had come into play because of ‘Divine intervention’ and ‘prayers of the nation’ that carried additional weight because the final was played in the ‘blessed month of Ramazan.’

When the team did take logic by the scruff of its neck and pulled off a blinder, the ‘law of averages’ had come into play because of ‘Divine intervention’ and ‘prayers of the nation’ that carried additional weight because the final was played in the ‘blessed month of Ramazan.’

The national media sold this line unabashedly as if the defeat a fortnight ago had not come in ‘the blessed month.’ And this included some former cricketers which made it even worse.

The only silver lining here would be the inherent admission in this discourse that the team on its own was not worth it. That being so, Mickey Arthur may not have said it in public but deep down he would be more than impressed by the power of ‘blessings’ and ‘prayers’ and ‘interventions.’

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 2nd, 2017

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