I am suddenly reminded of Osman Samiuddin’s landmark book on the history of Pakistan cricket. It’s an enchanting account of the game in that country, which gifted world cricket some of its greatest performers. Pakistan’s cricket is rich in heritage, pedigree and the supply line of talent. It’s also one of the biggest revenue earners of a game trying to go global because of its following and fervour.
The book is called The Unquiet Ones. Suitably titled and excellently justified, it’s a wonderful assessment of what cricket means to the country and how diehard are the fans that follow the game. Pakistan, without a question, is an epicentre of cricket. Let’s not get into names. There are so many. It’s an enormous source of rare talent — take Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Misbah-ul Huq. There are so many. Apologies for missing out on many more.
But, you know, something has snapped. The Unquiet Ones have fallen quiet. That endless chain of rare prodigies is still intact. There come special prospects, but the team effort and outcome are no longer the same. It’s become very predictable that Pakistan will go out there, play and lose. It is becoming a pattern which is disconcerting for the game of cricket.
The Test series defeat against Bangladesh is the latest confirmation of such a line of thought. Taking nothing away from Bangladesh’s brilliance, but it has tobe said that Pakistan didn’t drive home the advantage they had in both Tests. Their games to lose and they lost both, from seemingly impregnable positions. Is it a social problem? Socio-economic? Cultural?
It’s ironic in a way that this period of Pakistan’s general degradation in sports has coincided with Arshad Nadeem’s monumental Olympic gold medal effort in javelin throw. Nadeem was head and shoulders above the rest that night in Paris. He was unquestionably the best and fired an attempt which became an Olympic record.
But what happened to hockey and squash? They were the undisputed champions in both. Now, they are nowhere when it comes to these sports. Pakistan don’t even qualify for Olympic hockey. Their squash world champions belong to a distant past. Degradation in cricket is a continuation of this tale of fall. They used to be there right on top. They are not anywhere close to that anymore.
In other news:
EXCLUSIVE
An emotional moment as @sumit_javelin places his gold medal around his coach’s neck after his triumph.
Hear the story behind this gesture and find out what @PCI_IN_Official Chief @DevJhajharia told him before the competition.@AgeasFederal @RohanDC98 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/HtdJcWJ9CZ
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) September 4, 2024
This is a monumental loss for the game of cricket. Pakistan, with its fervour for cricket and the enormous amount of talent it possesses, is a heart and hub of this game of bat and ball. A lot of sponsorship, following and allied madness is generated from that corner of the world. If they go down, a significant chunk of cricket will suffer an irreparable loss, in terms of everything.
Sadly, that is what is unfurling. Losing Test matches after piling up close to 450 in the first innings, and, then reducing the opponents to 26/6 in a match after that is a testament of sharp decline. Whether it is a point of no return, we can’t tell. It’s a sad tale of the graph plummeting nonetheless. If they don’t come back, it will be a massive loss for a game trying to go global and nurturing Olympic hopes.
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