Before 1992, I never knew that any external reason could change the results of any competition as I was a passionate cricketer by then who was a strong believer of the fact that the good performance in the ground is sufficient to win a game and it was another truth that I was too young to understand the meanings of “external pressures”. I was one of the most reliable members of my school team who helped the team play the final of inter-schools tournament. The school announced a holiday on this achievement and all the students came to the ground to support their team. We were the super stars of the day, playing the final match at the ground of the school which was playing against us. We were being appreciated by the crowd on every good shot, “well bowled” and “well fielded” but after the 11th over of the first inning, a few bad people with guns in their hands arrived and took the middle of the ground, parked their bikes right at the pitch, shouted at us, threatened the players and officials and forced all of us to leave the ground immediately or to face the consequences which could hurt our (even the officials’) career.
The teenage school-going players had never faced such a situation before. We were unable to understand what actually did happen. Our sports teacher approached us, in the meantime and suggested us to go home. We were not ready to leave the ground and wanted to play (win the trophy in fact). But he said, “Go home, save your lives”.
Indian official scorer of that match Tushar Trivedi tells the story, “It was the post-tea session of the third day of the match when the crowd suddenly started abusing Pakistan players. There was a section in the crowd that hurdled bottles at the Pakistan fielders. The spectators chipped out small pieces of concrete from the pavilion stand and threw them at the players. When there was a serious threat of his players getting injured, Imran Khan opted to walk out.
The same old spent-out and impotent “Cricket Diplomacy” is going to be practised this time again as the Indian Prime Minister has invited Pakistani President and Prime Minister to visit India on the 30th of March to watch Semi Final. Mr Gilani is now scheduled to join his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at Mohali.
The teenage school-going players had never faced such a situation before. We were unable to understand what actually did happen. Our sports teacher approached us, in the meantime and suggested us to go home. We were not ready to leave the ground and wanted to play (win the trophy in fact). But he said, “Go home, save your lives”.
We never knew what actually happened. The whole cricket team went to see the sports teacher to ask if the venue of the final had been announced or not and when would we play the final again. He told us that the final would not be played and we had lost the trophy because of our poor track record of previous years.
None of the players agreed to this, we wanted to play because we were a better side this year, we tried to protest but nothing went in our favor and we lost the final without playing a complete match. We were told that apart from that interruption of the people at final, there were some other reasons too for not playing the match again.
Someone whispered, “this is what is called the external pressure”.
Someone whispered, “this is what is called the external pressure”.
A couple of years later, in 1994, I was watching the “Miss World Contest” on a television channel. After the final round, Miss Aishwarya Rai was announced as “Miss World”. Sushmita Sen had already earned the title of “Miss Universe” the very year earlier. And then, there was a long tale of having a large number of Miss-Worlds and Miss-Universes (like Diana Hayden, Yukta Mookhey, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta) from India. I was just surprised that 6 ladies were conferred upon these titles within 7 years’ time (from 1994 to 2000). I really wanted to know as to what noticeable these Indian ladies had done that the others from around the world could not even be considered seriously.Lt. Col. Jeelani in a feature in a daily newspaper published from Lahore wrote that India had the largest potential market for the cosmetic products, and the Western cosmetic industries were aiming at penetrating into this market in order to virtually colonize the region which could feed them for decades to come.
I never knew that such external reasons could also be a decisive factor in crowning a lady participating in the Miss World Contest.
I never knew that such external reasons could also be a decisive factor in crowning a lady participating in the Miss World Contest.
I recalled that Pakistan cricket team visited India in 1987. It was a famous “Cricket Diplomacy” series. Pakistan was a very strong team who defeated India in India under the legendry leadership of Imran Khan. Indian spectators started stoning the Pakistani players when they were fielding and Imran Khan had to ask his players to wear helmets if they wanted to save themselves from the crowd’s torture.
This is the only incident of its nature in the history of the game when a fielding side fielded while wearing helmets.
Indian official scorer of that match Tushar Trivedi tells the story, “It was the post-tea session of the third day of the match when the crowd suddenly started abusing Pakistan players. There was a section in the crowd that hurdled bottles at the Pakistan fielders. The spectators chipped out small pieces of concrete from the pavilion stand and threw them at the players. When there was a serious threat of his players getting injured, Imran Khan opted to walk out.
Mr Tushar further narrates, “With crowd in no mood to relent, the authorities decided to call in Gavaskar and asked him to pacify the crowd. He spoke in the microphone in Gujarati and urged the crowd to stop throwing things and treat Pakistan players like their guests of honor. This cooled down things. But captain Imran was not pleased with this, and he asked the players to get back into the room until the things get settled. After a few minutes they emerged but by wearing helmets.”
And the Skipper Imran Khan says, “I think Pakistan’s stand is understandable, in 1987 I had to ask the players to wear helmets on the boundary line, we didn’t want the team to come out of the ground but it was threatening the safety of the players. We were ambassadors of peace at that time, so we did not want to mar the tour because General Ziaul Haq, the then Pakistan president, had done cricket diplomacy by visiting India during a match.”
16 February 2005, Daily Times
This is not the only incidence of Indian crowd’s uncharacteristic behavior. They have done the same to Sri Lankan team in 1st Semi Final of World Cup 1996 which was being played between India and Sri Lanka at Kolkata. India lost 8 wickets for 120 runs but the match could not be continued because fanatic Indian supporters not only started throwing stones on Sri Lankan fielders but also caused a riot in the Eden Garden stands.
We witnessed the same in 1st match of Asian test championship between Pakistan and India. When India’s defeat was obvious and the last pair of Indian batting line up was standing there, Indian supporters started throwing stones again on Pakistani fielders. Pakistan cricket team had to leave the ground. Indian security people got the services of Sachin Tendulkar who paid a visit to the ground and requested the spectators to calm down but it made no impact on them and then eventually police had to intervene. They got the stadium emptied. All the spectators had to leave the stadium. Both the teams entered the ground just without any spectator in the stands. Shoaib Akhter bowled out the last man to earn the victory for Pakistan.
Along with such unpleasant moments, Pakistan has suffered from rulers’ so called “Cricket Diplomacy” for many times. This Cricket Diplomacy has never done anything good to Pakistan cricket in past. We played a “Very Goodwill” series against India in Pakistan. It is said that it was also influenced by the government of Pervaiz Musharraf. We have experienced Dosti but at the cost of losing the games. We lost to win the hearts but none of the teams could do that as such abnormal steps do not help in developing relationship. India has always been the ONLY beneficiary of cricket diplomacy.
The same old spent-out and impotent “Cricket Diplomacy” is going to be practised this time again as the Indian Prime Minister has invited Pakistani President and Prime Minister to visit India on the 30th of March to watch Semi Final. Mr Gilani is now scheduled to join his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at Mohali.
I am afraid, today’s India is not different, it is more unsecure now and we have more concerns regarding the security of the players. External reasons can play a vital role in 2nd Semi Final.
Pakistani officials are in a constant coordination with Indian foreign office. They have promised "state-level" security to Pakistan cricket team in response to the apprehensions of a terrorist attack as there is a news item in circulation that Pakistan team may be targeted in India. Pakistan has requested India to ensure ‘special security’ for its cricket team after Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced on Thursday that the government had received intelligence reports that terrorists groups might try to target them during the ongoing World Cup in India (headline of all the newspapers of 25th March).
Apart from other visible and invisible threats during Pakistani team’s stay in India, they may face something unpleasant if they reach final as Manohar Joshi, the former chief minister of Maharashtra has already said that if the Pakistan team reaches the final in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena chief will decide whether to allow them to play or not.” Such threats cannot be taken lightly especially when they come from the extremist parties which do not have a peaceful track record. This threat will remain there until Pakistan wins the final. I would suggest the ICC to alter the plan and the Final should be shifted to either Colombo or Dhaka, if Pakistan wins the Semi Final.
I am afraid; there is something beyond the cricket itself which will be played during the Semi Final between Pakistan and India; of course the bookies saga is not something to be ignored.
If we look at the performance and attitude of both the teams, we will find Pakistan a better side. Bowlers earn victories for the teams and Pakistan’s bowling squad is undoubtedly the best one in the world. India’s over-rated strong batting line up has been exposed during three pool matches where they could not survive for complete 50 overs, even against the below average English bowling attack which could not get even one wicket against Sri Lanka in their quarter final.
India’s batsmen are good but they can easily be handled by the Pakistani bowling attack which contains a handsome number of some really good fighters like Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Akhter, Abdul Rehman and Mohammad Hafeez. They have the capability to restrict any side to a fighting total and can defend any total.
Pakistani batsmen are not, although, technically as strong as the Indian batsmen are, yet to face Indian bowling attack at a batting track you do not need to be an exceptional batsman. Younis, Misbah, Asad, Hafeez, Umar Akmal and even Kamran and Razzaq can play very well against Zaheer, Harbhajan, Munaf, Ashwin and other part time bowlers.
Pakistani side always performs well under pressure. It is evident from their history. If the game remains within the field pressure and techniques, and no external pressure is exerted, then Pakistan will surely win, even the notorious Indian sledging cannot stop Pakistan.
I have a fear based upon the analysis of the objective circumstances. Therefore, I believe that a thinking mind will keep feeling unsafe for the team Pakistan until it reaches back home safely. Raymond Davis case has cruelly questioned Pakistan’s diplomatic strategies at the international fora.
Non-Muslims and their governments know more about the law of Diat than the Muslim world and they know it can resolve all the matters and such events cannot harm the relationship between the two nations. Can’t the very Diat rescue come into action if, God forbid, something irreparable happens to the Pakistani players in a Shiv Sena famed arch-rival of Pakistan?
May The Almighty safeguard the Pakistani players.
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