I WATCHED our cricket team play in the pre-matches against England and now the World Cup 2019. I honestly was very pleasantly surprised that our boys put up a good fight, they seemed more mentally strong and brave now than I had ever seen them.

Being a performer myself, I feel it is very, very important to keep one’s spirits high before a performance. Performance is more of a mental attitude.

We all work and practise very hard at home, but some of us don’t perform as well publicly and there is a whole psychology behind it. That’s why you have sports psychiatrists. Every bit matters. Fear before a performance mars your performance. No matter how good you are, the ‘moment’ that faces you is always new.

They gave a good fight and didn’t lose interest till the end knowing the odds were against them.

I personally saw this as a big pleasant change in our team. We all knew we are not such a strong team right now for a multitude of reasons. It’s evident these boys have not travelled and played enough; haven’t had much opportunity to be in the big league where the entire atmosphere transforms and gives you that most needed experience.

It can be pretty scary if you’re not used to it. Then the media/social media can be very intimidating now and the general spirit of a place matters. More so, for years our team has been isolated from the international arena.

Hardly any international team has played tournaments in Pakistan owing to security reasons. This result was a given. The fact that they were out there and played was good enough for me.

It is a sign of insanity to think that our team is are insulated from what has been going on in Pakistan on all fronts. It isn’t only cricket that went for a nose dive. They are not only cricketers but Pakistanis too.

As members of society each one of them, I am sure, goes through the same ordeal as all of us who have to deal with negativity spewed against us on local and international media, sapping our energy. How is it then, that our team will be any different than the rest of us?

We take a lot of pride when an Atif Aslam or a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, a Jahangir Khan or an Imran Khan does well on the international arena, but how many of us realise that none of us had anything to do with their success? It was solely their own personal passion and very hard work that took them to such excellence and not a duty they were doing to us. We are just beneficiaries of their hard work and proud of them because they are Pakistanis.

Let’s be more sensitive to our team and ourselves. I am still very proud of all of them. I wish them luck in the coming matches and they should know at least I am cheering for them.

Tina Sani

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2019