Unfit players bad for morale of team: SWINGING DRIVES
It took nine overs for South Africa to make the 44 runs, required to win the Durban test match by 10 wickets. 36 runs came of the 5 angry overs bowled by Sami, a senseless display of short-pitched bowling, the equivalent of banging one’s head against a wall.
By contrast, England made Australia sweat it out for the 107 runs it needed, losing 5 wickets. It was an inspiring piece of cricket.
England bowled with passion, pride and commitment, qualities of heart missing in Pakistan effort. It would have been nice if Pakistan had taken a wicket or two. It goes to show a frame of mind, an attitude.
Waqar Yunis, perhaps, believes that he himself is two bowlers because he goes in with a bowler short in both versions of the game. In the Durban test match, Pakistan played 4 bowlers and to compound the mistake, won the toss and sent South Africa in, as if it had McGrath, Gillespie, Lee and Warne in the team. The first calculation, a captain must do, is whether he has the bowling resources to take 20 wickets to win a test match. There’s no point in packing the batting if you can’t get the other side out.
Besides, if your top five batsmen don’t fire, what can we expect an additional batsman to do? Shahid Afridi does not seem to fit into the team management’s planning, for whatever reasons, what is Mohammad Zahid in the team for?
In the three-day game preceding the test match, by some quirk of fortune, or absent-mindedness, Mohammad Zahid played and he took 5 wickets. Perhaps, this was not considered good enough. Sent in, South Africa made 366 in ideal bowling conditions.
True there was no Wasim Akram or Shoaib Akhtar, one back home and the other still in Durban, ostensibly undergoing treatment though hardly incapacitated: All the more reason to have batted first and put some runs on the board.
Batting was always going to be difficult and Shaun Pollock let loose his battery of quick bowlers and they blasted Pakistan out. The openers, about whom so much concern has been shown, gave Pakistan a solid start but once Taufiq Omar was out, the door was opened.
Inzamam got out to a brute of a delivery and, suddenly, the South African bowlers seemed to grow horns. Hanif Mohammad was in the dressing-room, watching the proceedings as the batting coach. His mind must have flashed back to his monumental innings of 337 against the West Indies and Gilchrist was part of the attack and Gilchrist was ferociously fast and he ‘chucked’ his bouncer and the batsmen wore no helmets.
Hanif the batting coach can pass on some tips but he can’t pass on the application and steely resolve he brought to his batting. He put a very high price on his wicket.
It is not that the Pakistan batsmen are not talented. It is simply that they don’t bat as a team. Pakistan batted better in the second innings. Another hundred runs and Saqlain could have won the match for Pakistan.
The batsmen should see the videos of how they got out and they will be able to see how poor the shot selection was. Youhana twinkled like a diamond. But he played an ambitious shot seeing that a fielder had been posted at fly-slip and he took the bait.
One hopes that Pakistan will do better at Capetown. It will be the last international match before the World Cup and Pakistan needs to take back some pride from South Africa before it returns to do battle.
Teams that refuse to play in Zimbabwe will forfeit match points. This is not enough. Zimbabwe as a venue is a part of the package of the World Cup.
The pressure is coming from England even the government has weighed in with Claire Short, a cabinet minister saying it would be “shocking and deplorable” if the England team went to Zimbabwe. The irony is that Zimbabwe’s team is mainly made up of whites.
Yet, they seem to be willing to play but the highminded English find it morally repugnant to play in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. By introducing politics into sport, the World Cup is being put to risk. People like David Graveney are entitled to their opinions but are singularly unqualified to make political judgments.
I would guess that they have no idea about the imperatives of Zimbabwe’s politics nor any idea of the white man’s rule in that country and how the best lands in that country were ‘stolen’ from the Zimbabwe blacks. It is a shameful history. The ICC must take a tough stand.
Pakistan’s team for the World Cup will have been announced when this column appears in the print. I expect to see no surprises and if they are, I will comment on them next week.
But one hopes that no one will be picked if he has a question mark hanging over him about his fitness. It’s time that PCB’s medical panel showed some teeth. Players who carry injuries don’t get better by playing.
This would seem fairly elementary to even a layman. And unfit players are bad for the morale of the team and morale is a key component of a team. This too is elementary.
Urdu literature in 2002
THE year 2002 could be described quite productive for the Urdu literature. Quite a heart-warming feature of the works published during the year was that a great deal of attention was paid to research and criticism. Poetry and fiction did not lag far behind in spite of the fact that no work in this category could cause any sensation in the real sense of the word.
For some time past it has been felt that except for a few ‘reputation’ in poetry the general run of the new and upcoming poets seems to be below average. No brilliant flashes of creativity. No uncommon grip over the language and no above average imaginative flights. For most of the poets it is a dismal affair. Should we conclude then that the golden age of poetry has passed. May be I am a bit pessimistic but there is nothing to be optimistic either.
First I would discuss the works of poetry. Starting with Khalid Alig’s Ghazal-i-Dasht-i-Sagan, Anwar Khalil’s Shehre Sukhan, Mah-i-Talat Zahidi’s Roop Hazar, Rafiuddin Raz’s Pairahan-i-Fikr the poetry reader comes to the Kulliyat of Jilani Kamran titled Jeelani Kamran ki Nazmain, Nikhat Barelvi’s Harf-i-Zair-i-Lab, Naseer Ahmad Nasir’s Pani Mein Gum Khwab, Khalid Moin’s Inhimak and a selection of Sabir Zafar’s poetry, we find a different kind of bitterness creeping into our poets’ sensibility.
Fiction: There is no doubt that the year we have just said goodbye has also proved quite rich in fiction. Intezar Husain’s Sheharzad Ke Nam, Bano Qudsia’s Dast Basta, Feroz Mukerjee’s Door Ki Aawaz Rehan Azhar’s Rabia Zinda Hai, Mehmood Wajid’s Lamha Lamha Zindagi, Sultan Jamil Nasim’s Main Aaina Haun, Rashid Amjad’s Sat Range Parindae Ka Taaqub, Ghulam Jeelani Asghar’s Ek Zara Sham Se Pehle, Aminuddin’s Ab Kahani Mein Badshah Nahin, Najam Fazli’s Kala Gulab, Shamshad Ahmed’s Shehar Jungle Huae and Zia-ur-Rehman Zia’s Piyar Ka Pehla Din could be cited as the eloquent comment on the society they seek to describe. The short story has been termed a slice of life but it also represents an important element of contemporary human life.
It would be quite appropriate that the fiction accompanies few good works of criticism of fiction as well. Mazhar Jamil’s Aashub-i-Sindh Aur Urdu Fiction is, perhaps, the only work of its kind. He has covered the whole gamut of Urdu and Sindhi fiction so that the underlying causes of creative reaction - embodied in fiction - could be studied and there is no doubt that it is a commendable work. Saba Ikram’s Jadid Afsana: Chand Soortain is also a serious work which offers interpretations from the modernist viewpoint.
Criticism: Let me spell out at the outset that the year 2000 was quite a rich year for Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir, Iqbal and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan studies.
Ghalib continues to rule the roost. The Ghalib Academy Karachi has succeeded in publishing more books on Ghalib than any other body associated with the great poet in Pakistan or India. The Academy published Aaina-i-Afkar-i-Ghalib (Shanul Haq Haqqi), Jahan-i-Ghalib (Mumtaz Hasan), Insha-i-Ghalib (Rasheed Hasan Khan), Ghalib Ki Urdu Nasr (Maulana Hamid Hasan Qadri). Dr Farman Fatehpuri’s book Taabirat-i-Ghalib and Partu Rohila’s Mushkalat-i-Ghalib are also good books.
Other important works of criticism are Fahim Aazmi’s Raideen-i-Jadeedyat, Shamsur Rahman Faruqui’s Ghalib ke Chand Pehlu, Farooq Usman’s Urdu Novel Mein Muslim Saqafat, Zafar Azeem’s Roomi Ke Naghme, Shafi Aqil’s Irani Lok Kahaniyan, Rashid Adib’s Mukalma Numa, Anjuman Ara Anjuman’s Agha Hashar Kashmiri Aur Urdu Drama, Rafiuddin Hashmi’s Armaghan-i-Sheerani and Abdul Ghani Farooq’s Mahir-ul-Qadri - Hayat Aur Adabi Khidmat.
Iqbalean studies was also richer by having in its harvest Dr Manzoor Ahmed’s Iqbal Shanasi. Dr Manzoor Ahmed’s work is a radical departure. He has emphasized the need for a new paradigm for Iqbalean studies as the conventional parameters have become redundant. Fateh Muhammad Malik’s Iqbal Faramoshi, Ziauddin Ahmed’s Iqbal Ka Fun Aur Falsafa and Muhammad Ali Siddiqui’s Talash-i-Iqbal are also serious efforts to reach out the vital recesses of Iqbal’s thought.
Abdul Aziz Khalid’s Sukhan Aashna, Syed Muhammad Arif’s Shahid Ahmed Dehalvi: Halat-o-Aasar, the third and fourth volumes of Rasheed Ahmed Siddiqui’s Meezan-i-Nasr and the fourth volume of Rasheed Ahmed Siddiqui’s Urdu Letters are also important additions to our literature.
Reminiscences & Memories: Abdullah Jamaldini’s Lat Khana is the most precious document which has come from Baba-i-Baluchi Abdullah Jamaldini. His reminiscences recall the march of liberal and progressive ideas in Balochistan. Rashid Amjad’s Tamanna Betab, Zubair Rizvi’s Gardish-i-Pa, Himayat Ali Shair’s autobiography in verse, Aaina Dar Aaina, Justice Jawaid Iqbal’s autobiography, Apna Gareban Chak, Ahmed Nadim Qasmi’s Mere Ham Safar, Shahid Naqvi’s three books Azadari, Azmat-i-Bashr, and Bedar Shuain, Ahmed Salim’s Hasrat Mohani, Syed Muhammad Asghar Kazmi’s Maulana Hasrat Mohani Danishwaron Ki Nazar Mein and Ramiz Ahmed’s Yadon Ki Mala are some important books in their field.
I am aware that no survey of this nature could be a roll call of authors of the year. This is just a list of significant books which deserves inclusion in the sub-heads I have discussed in the column. I believe that other surveys would also be published. My assessment is restricted to the books I have been able to lay my hands on.
Anyhow it is quite fair to regard the year 2002 as a productive year for Urdu literature in Pakistan.
Love Sonnets of Ghalib: Dr Sarfaraz K. Niazi’s English translation of Mirza Ghalib’s ghazals titled Love Sonnets of Ghalib was launched at a city hotel by the Halqa-i-Niaz-o-Nigar last week.
Dr Farman Fatehpuri introduced Dr Sarfaraz K. Niazi, a professor of pharmacy in a US university with a number of books on the subject to his credit. Being son of Allama Niaz Fatehpuri and grandson of Amir Muhammad Khan, a friend of Mirza Ghalib and one of his correspondents, it was in Dr Sarfaraz K. Niazi’s genes to continue a family tradition of Ghalib Scholarship. Dr Farman said that the book was the most beautifully produced translation of Ghalib which, apart from being a faithful translation, followed the format of having the Urdu verse, its rendition in Roman script with an international system of phonetics, followed by its English translation and a glossary of difficult words with meanings to help readers recite the Urdu verse.
A highly unusual launching ceremony in its conception due to Mr Hameed A. Haroon’s masterly plan, it comprised Arshad Mehmood’s brilliant composition - marrying off the heartland drone of anguish with the hinterland’s response to the sublime union of lovers which cannot admit of any impediment. Ustad Nafis and his Sarangi-playing maestro companion were at their best. It was simply an enchanting rendition.
Another feature was recitation of a selection of Urdu verses by Arshad Mahmood followed by English translations of the same by Rehana Saigal and Imran Aslam.
And lastly the panel discussion on the book. The panelists were I. A. Adni, this writer, Aftab Ahmed Khan, Jamiluddin Aali and Dr Farman Fatehpuri. Dr Farman Fatehpuri, as we all know, has played a seminal role in the career of Dr Sarfaraz K. Niazi. Having browsed through works of Dr Mehmood, Sir Ross Masud, K. N. Sud, J. L. Kaul, Abdullah Anwer Beg, Ralph Russel, Khurshidul Islam, Prof Ahmed Ali, Sufia Saadullah, M. H. Syed, Shahab Rehmatullah, Anne Marie Schimmel, Natalia Prigarina, M. Mujeeb, Dr Yousuf Hussain Khan and Prof Aijaz Ahmed’s compilation (of different translations’ efforts under the title ‘Ghazals of Ghalib’) etc, etc. Dr Khan’s effort is undoubtedly unique.
The least that can be said about Dr Sarfaraz K. Niazi’s work is that it is a very unusual work in that it is not merely a translation but offers a pronouncing dictionary of Ghalib’s verses as well - a feat never attempted so far with so much care and devotion.