With Zimbabwe finishing its Pakistan tour without incident this past week, it was after years that the people of Pakistan were able to cheer for their team on home soil. Their boys trounced Zimbabwe, winning both Twenty20 internationals, the two one-day internationals, while the third was abandoned because of rains. Exiled from home after the 2009 terrorist attacks on the visiting Sri Lankan team, this bunch of Pakistani gladiators made Dubai and Sharjah their home.
Pakistan cricket has always endured through its highs and lows. A few weeks ago the team lost an ODI series to Bangladesh and then followed it up by trouncing Bangladesh by 328 runs to win a Test match. Volatility at its best and a volatility which has come close to defining Pakistan cricket.
Where do you begin to define a team of mercurial unpredictability? There is just something about the Pakistan cricket team which is unfathomable yet this is the tale which cricket romantics swoon at. Pakistan cricket has come a long way since they beat England in 1954 and established themselves as a force to reckon with. The team in past decades has consisted of mavericks, street-fighters, wizards of spin and magicians of a supposed dark art – an art which no one else knew. There was a leader who made the nation believe and the cricketing world sit up and take notice. A match involving Pakistan was always exciting for the talent that the team possessed. The only question was – which team stepped onto the field, the one to be afraid of or the one to walk over? This was a team which was capable of vertigo-inducing highs and damning lows. One step maddening, one step conquering.
The teams of yore consisted of players who were ready to risk it all on the field in pursuit of victory. The bowlers hunted in packs and induced toe-crushing deliveries leaving opposing batsmen hopping and ducking for cover. The spinners were wizards who made the ball move to their whim and the batsmen were capable of chasing down mammoth targets through their silken touch or raw force. The team possessed the intelligence and guile to fashion victory. However, the team now is in sharp contrast of those in the ‘80s and the ‘90s. The aggression which once defined Pakistan cricket is missing.
In both the country’s cricket and its politics, the causes for the post-2007 implosion had built up during the boom years. The contradictory military alliances forged during the early 2000s resulted in the devastating blowback later in the decade, while the failure to secure a transition from a powerful team was the chief problem in cricket. The next generation of Pakistan cricket thus became the lost generation when they went through a period of rampant instability. This was a team which has been the center of a spot-fixing scandal and has even been accused of murdering its coach. The diagnoses of Pakistan cricket remains fixated on a few star players, quibbles over approaches and infighting in the board. Pakistan’s six-year isolation has impacted players, administrators and fans – often in ways hard to quantify.
In Pakistan’s recent democratic transition in politics, the small spectacular growth in Test matches has been a source of joy for the avid fan. The new captain’s maiden double-century reassured fans that Pakistan’s batting, at least in Tests, would be in safe hands once the old guard retires. The country may not produce demi gods for bowlers anymore but the bowling has greater diversity than ever before. A lack of international cricket has stymied the development of Pakistan Cricket Board officials, who no longer benefit from regular interaction with officials of other boards. Yet there is now hope that with the arrival of Zimbabwe, things will turn around for the better.
These last six years since 2009, of constantly being forced back by various tragedies, have nevertheless been a period of rebuilding. The new turn in Pakistan’s history makes one believe in new heroes yet to be uncovered and in life that returns to the cricketing infrastructure. The hope is it will once again surge ahead anchored in the belief that it can conquer the cricket world, every bit the way Pakistan cricket is supposed to be.
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