Kaptaan – We look towards you for rescuing the Pakistan Cricket

Pakistan Need both the leaders to stand for Pakistan Cricket again and bring cricket back to Pakistan

Before Pakistan goes for yet another “home series” scheduled to be played in the UAE, the PCB and the Government of Pakistan must come to an unambiguous conclusion as to where they want the Pakistan Cricket be destined to; Pakistan or abroad?

It’s been more than four and a half years now that Pakistan played their home series within Pakistan for the last time. The terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, and the Spot Fixing scandal surfaced in London worsened everything related to the Pakistan cricket.

Looking at such a bleak scenario, the Cricket gurus had started predicting that Pakistan would face a life-ban. At this stage, the emergence of a hero, they call him Misbah ul Haq, took place. He, in those gloomy times, not only earned respect for the homeland but also lead the team from front and clean-swept the then world number one, England. Misery, it was again a home series played offshore.

Misbah had been facing sheer criticism for his deceptively defensive approach right from the moment he started facing the ball for his nation. It would be interesting to note nevertheless that more the criticism got fiercer, more his performance became scintillating. He out-shined his fellows home and abroad in all forms of cricket; T20, ODI and Test.

Known in cricketing circles as Mr. Consistency, Misbah ul Haq managed his team to successfully keep from any ugly controversies.

Known in non-cricketing circles as Mr TukTuk, Misbah has been being conferred upon substantial appreciation from the stalwarts of the sport. Ex-cricketers like Wasim Akram, Basit Ali, Mohsin Khan and many other cricketers, and even the PCB Chairman argue for Misbah that he has almost always to start with TukTuk due to the disaster taken place in the batting line up of the team shivering and sobbing at the humiliating score 3/20, 4/26,3/43 or even worse. To them, the real ailment is not Misbah’s slowly blooming innings, but it is his fellow batters’ below-average performance.

Be it South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe or India, our talented batsmen like Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Umar Amin and Adnan Akmal get miserably flopped in performing well on the batting tracks. And the nonsensically alleged baabay of the team, Misbah and Younis, have to rescue their failing men. None of the young batsmen could perform in Zimbabwe or in India when it was really required. The only victory at Harare in Zimbabwe and in India in the Champions’ League was actually earned by none other than these baabaas of the team.

WHY TO BRING CRICKET BACK?

When we ponder over the apparent reasons of the utter failure of the young batsmen playing abroad, we come to the conclusion that unfortunately none of them has played even one match at the Pakistani soil. None of them did debut their career at home.

How would they gain confidence if they are never provided with a chance to play on their soil, among their people? Playing on the home-ground among the home-crowd is the key. Playing at home generally helps kick-start the careers of the legends-to-be. Pakistani batsmen are not performing well because they are not exposed to the world’s best bowlers at their own soil. It is interesting to note that the world class players are seen to be struggling when they are on a tour, whereas the home teams’ players get confidence while playing at their home grounds. They improve their record, their technique and their confidence. Cricket boards prefer to start their young players’ careers from the home series. Conforming to the very philosophy, the BCCI has ensured that their first class cricketers be provided with a couple of months every year (until 2020) to play at their soil. They’ve got ICC’s Future Tour Program designed according to their needs; however the PCB doesn’t bother to have even a glance at this scheme, what to talk of adopting it for her players.

During the IPL, entire world comes to play cricket in India and their average players get an exposure of playing against world’s best cricketers in an environment which is conducive enough for them to learn. This is how they improve their skills. Even their seniors get confidence from this league.

Let’s have a look at the miraculous outcomes of playing at the home ground: England won Ashes at their home. Zimbabwe beat Pakistan in their home series. India won 4-0 against Australia in India. Australia is hoping to get Ashes trophy back in 2015 when they will be playing in Australia. South Africa bowled three teams out below 50 at their home.

Alas! the Pakistani cricketers do not get a chance of playing against the best cricketers on their own soil.

Icing on the cake, the pitches in the UAE will not be prepared by the Pakistani curators. Instead, the ICC curators would prepare them. Suppose, the pitches are prepared with the consultation of the Pakistani curators, according to the aspirations of the team, still it will not equate playing within Pakistan, for the UAE will remain the UAE, and expat spectators cannot replace the natives.

PCB can do one thing only and it is, to provide Pakistani cricketers to provide as many chances as possible within the country and by helping them get contracts in different international leagues. Young batsmen need to have exposure of different grounds, quality fast and spin bowlers and competitive cricket at all levels. PCB must ensure it as I said in my article published in Daily Tribune.

Dear PM, please invite Kaptan and assign him a task to revive and bring cricket back to Pakistan. 

How to bring cricket back

This is for the first time in the history of Pakistan, and is a pleasant coincidence, that the Prime Minister and and the leader of the 3^rd largest political party have been playing professional cricket when they were young. The PM has played first class cricket and the PTI chief has been a Test cricketer. Both of them know the importance of the question as to why cricket should be brought back to Pakistan without any further delay. In the writer’s opinion, acting upon these points as soon as possible might save the Pakistan cricket from any further deterioration:

1.    The Prime Minister himself should talk to the Kaptaan in order to seek for his help to bring cricket back; for Imran Khan is one of the most influential and charismatic cricketers of the history of the game. And if, the PM does not bother to call in him, the Kaptaan should take an initiative and offer his services, for the sake of Pakistan.

a.    The Kaptaan should be given a task to visit all test playing countries on a war-footing and talk to the boards to send their teams to Pakistan and give personal guarantee for the fool-proof security. He can even quote that the chief minister of Punjab has already done a marvelous job by brining international players to Pakistan and ensuring that they play here without worrying about their security.

b.    Imran Khan must negotiate with the ICC as Pakistan needs a person who can advocate her cause in the best possible manner. Imran has a rich record of earning respect by winning the Ball-Tempering case against Ian Botham, and bringing the final of World Cup 1996 to Lahore which was supposed to be played in India. It was Imran who convinced the officials to select Lahore as the venue for the final.

c.     The Kaptaan has developed a great team from the corporate sector which can guide him as to how he should fight for Pakistan at the international level

d.    The Kaptaan must negotiate with the ICC to visit Pakistan and check security measures. The state should also help Imran in talking to ICC with the evidences of those events when international teams (hockey, kabaddi etc) visited Pakistan and were taken care of properly by the Punjab government

2.    The bone of contention remains the players’ security. The Kaptaan can also convince the government to bring the culprits of 2009 attacks to justice, so that cricketing world may trust Pakistan. Spectators can expect a positive response from a cricketer-turned-Prime Minister who ensured Faisalabad team’ presence in the Champions’ League.

3.    The PM visited Turkey recently and invited the investors to invest in Pakistan. He is a businessman who can have his own cricket franchise and invite world’s best businessmen to invest and develop their own franchises for Pakistan Super League. He can use his team to ensure the best ROI (Return-On-Investment) to the investors. Business can be attracted from the non-cricket-playing nations even.

A cricket fan knows that asking for bringing the sport back to the soil is not equal to asking for the moon, especially when the whole nation has witnessed her politicians uniting for the cause of Pakistan on the floor of the APC.

Kaptan Shakehand with PM and help Pakistan ... We need you for cricket again...

Can Tendulkar become Imran Khan?

It’s been three months when Tendulkar was offered a place in Rajya Sabha and more than one and half months when he took oath. But his performance is yet to be revealed as politician. India has a long list of cricketers-turn-politicians like Azhar ud Din, Novjot Sidhu, Vinod Kambli, Manoj Parbhakar, Kirti Azad, Chethan Chauhan, Mansur Ali Patudi and many others however none of them was as great as Tendulkar Tendulkar is. On the other hand, in Pakistan, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Amir Sohail and few other Pakistani players have joined politics but none of them was as great as Imran Khan is. So, this equation takes us to the question;

Can Tendulkar become Imran Khan of India?

One can only answer to this question after having a detailed look at both legends’ lives and achievements.

Tendulkar’s Achievements

1.    Sachin Tendulkar is the Highest Run scorer in One Day Internationals & Test Cricket (15470, 18426 respectively) and 33906 runs overall

2.    First person to hit a Double Century in the history of one day cricket

3.    Only player with 100 centuries (ODI 49 & Tests 51)

4.    Most number of man of the matches in ODIs= 62

5.    Most number of nineties in the ODI= 28

6.    Scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODIs for 8 times

7.    The only player to be in top 10 ICC ranking for 10 years

8.    Most ODI Centuries in a calendar year: 9 in 1998

9.    Consecutive ODI Appearances: 185

10.  Tendulkar is the only player who has 150 wkts and more than 15000 runs in ODI

11.  Highest earning cricketer in the world

12.  Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award

Imran Khan’s Achievements

1.    Winning World Cup

2.    World's second-best all-rounder after Garry Sobers with 7000+ runs and around 550 wickets

3.    Recipient of Pride of Performance & Hilal-i-Imtiaz Awards

4.    Inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2010

5.    Defeated India in India, England in England and three creditable draws against the West Indies

6.    Captained Pakistan for maximum number of years and in maximum number of matches

And that’s it… I have been trying to google Imran Khan’s records but could not find many which could impress cricket fans. And Tendulkar… I had to edit most of his records to keep my thesis short and precise. He owns a long list of records that even Wikipedia could not cover all. Tendulkar is undoubtedly a (far) better cricketer than Imran.

Tendulkar’s stats far better than Imran:Tendulkar remained on top and Imran struggled on their debut. Imran delivered 28 wicketless overs and was dropped from the side for next 3 years whereas Tendulkar made 215 in 6 innings with the average of 35.33 in his first series. Cricket gurus called him second Gavaskar that he proved later.

An Eye-Opening Comparison;

Batting Career (Tests)              Batting Career (ODIs)                           Bowling Career (ODIs)

	Imran	Tundulkar		Imran	Tundulkar		Imran	Tundulkar
Matches	88	188	Matches	175	463	Overs	1239	1340
Runs	3807	15470	Runs	3709	18426	Wickets	182	154
Highest	136	248	Highest	102	200	Best Bowling	6-14	5-32
Average	37.69	55.45	Average	33.41	44.83	5wI	1	2
100s	6	51	100s	1	49	Strike Rate	40.9	52.2
50s	18	65	50s	19	96

Apart from amazing stats of Tendulkar, I would still put Imran Khan ahead of Tendulkar because of his on the field phenomenal performance and off the field remarkable contribution to the society like;

Imran Khan’s Contribution to Cricket:

·         Cricket can be divided into two phases

o    Pre-Imran & Post Imran Phases

o    Pre-Imran phase is all about playing traditional cricket where two teams would play for the sake of playing whereas Post-Imran cricket is all about playing for winning without having a fear of losing

o    Miandad’s last-ball sixer is the greatest example of “Fight Back”. A philosophy that was not in practice before Imran. That famous sixer changed the mode of the game and psyche of the cricketers

·         He introduced Leg Spinners in One Day Cricket and used them as trump card

·         He gave and implemented the idea of using first 15 overs by starting inning with Saeed Anwar & Saleem Yousuf, years before Jayasurya and Kaluwitharna mastered the art

·         Added a team of fighters to the cricket globe as Golden era of Pakistan cricket belongs to him as Wasim, Waqar, Inzamam, Moin and other players and captains followed his philosophy and earned victories for the country. The very same philosophy can be observed at club level even.

·         He always lead from the front (Including his last game in the final of World Cup 1992)

Tendulkar’s Contribution to Cricket:

·         His records are somehow unachievable

·         He is blessed with amazing consistency that has earned him respect of being an all-time great batsman who is technically sound and professionally an example of all the coming generations

Imran’s Contribution to Society:

·         Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital

·         Numl University at Mianwali

·         Chancellor of the University of Bradford UK

(Everything speaks loud about the multidimensional great. Nothing to say more)

Tendulkar’s Contribution to Society:

·         Tendulkar sponsors 200 underprivileged children every year through an NGO, Apnalaya

·         A request from Sachin on Twitter raised 1.025 crore for the Crusade against Cancer foundation

·         He devoted 9 hours to the Coca-Cola-NDTV Support My School telethon that raised 7 crore – 2 crore more than the target – for the creation of basic facilities for girl students, in 140 government schools

Response of Political Parties when Imran joined Politics

·         Imran has reportedly declined offers of Pervez Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif & Benazir for joining them and adjusting seats even when he had no share in the parliament

·         Legends like Wasim Akram joined his party at the very beginning and famous politicians joined him recently

Response of Political Parties when Tendulkar joined Politics

·         Only one leader of BJP (Najma Heptullah) welcomed Sachin in Politics, except the ruling party (Congress).

·         Even his friends including Manjrekar, Bhogle, Vengsarkar, Bedi and many others did not appreciate his decision

Comparison of both the legends as to why Tendulkar CANNOT be Imran

1.    Tendulkar and Imran are great sportsmen however the real difference between these two legends is the attitude. Imran was a true fighter who would never give up and perform exceptionally well under pressure however when it comes to the pressure, Tendulkar struggles
(Watch World Cup final of 1992 for Imran and 2003 & 2011 finals for Tendulkar)

2.    He is an extension of a fairy tale of batting records that started from Sunil Gavaskar in India and may be, this is the only reason Imran suggested him, “You should not be playing to break records”. He should have retired after the “ultimate high” of India winning the World Cup. Richards is great because his loves challenges. I don’t need to look at his records. Records are after all statistics and statistics do not matter to great players”. He focuses on challenges, not the records. Whereas, 100^th 100 kept Tendulkar confused for more than an year. His reaction after 100^th 100 speaks all about the relief he felt after achieving the target although India lost to a weaker side and was axed from Asia Cup because of that slow 100.

3.    Tendulkar is a true individual sportsman (100^th century is the greatest example where India lost the match because of his slow 100) but Imran was a team player and a leader who was not afraid of risking records like declaring innings when Miandad’s was about to make a triple century (280*) and many other occasions to make an attempt for a victory.

4.    Tendulkar lives a day to day life and doesn’t plan much even for his career as he is still reluctant about retirement. However, Imran is a dreamer who dreams of things that have never happened. He believes in attaining the IMPOSSIBLE as he dreamt of winning the world cup in 80s, beating India in India & England in England far before it actually happened

5.    Tendulkar has not taken ownership of grooming young players. However, Imran groomed and turned many good to great like Qadir, Wasim, Waqar, Inzamam, Mushtaq and others

6.    Tendulkar was a part of a world cup winning side, Imran won the world cup single handedly (others just supported as they say)

7.    Tendulkar has never lead from the front, not as captain even. Imran has always done, even in his last game (Final of world cup 1992, the highest runs maker)

8.    Tendulkar has never been a match winner but has great records, Imran doesn’t have any great records but has always been a match winner

9.    Tendulkar neither speaks loud nor discusses his opinion publically on any matter. Whereas Imran is never afraid of sharing his thoughts even if the entire world is against him

10.  Tendulkar is an honorary parliamentarian, Imran contest the elections and won the seat (2002)

11.  Tendulkar has no plans to lead the nation through politics, Imran is fighting to find his path & struggling even on the cost of his cricketing repute

12.  No one knows Tendulkar’s political affiliation & his political stance. Imran always had an opinion, made best efforts to develop a “pressure group” with the help of top social workers of Pakistan and then constructed a political party that is one of the top three parties of Pakistan

13.  Tendulkar wants to be remembered as a person who served sports of India in a best manner (as he said). Imran wants to be remembered as someone who put the nation on track (not only sports)

14.  Tendulkar played safe again by opting for an unopposed seat of upper house with the help of ruling party. Imran would always fight. He contested elections. He will fight again and try not only to reserve his seat as parliamentarian but as prime minister. Tendulkar can never even think of becoming prime minister.

15.  Tendulkar doesn’t want to sacrifice his repute of being a god of batting. Imran, on the other hand, has absolutely no fear of losing his fame as his cause is greater than Sachin’s.

16.  Who knows Tendulkar resigns after 3 years calling politics a cesspool as Mr. Bachchan did. But Imran did not… He will not…

17.  Leadership has been Tendulkar’s weakest and Imran’s strongest point. This quality is actually going to decide Imran and Tendulkar’s future and this would actually not let Tendulkar become Imran Khan.

(Article was written on 15th August 2012 - Three months after his nomition for the post. He took oath on 24th December 2012)