There is a lot of wonderment going on in my mind. Will our cricketers be put on the ECL (Entry Control List) or is it that upon returning they will join the PML-N considering they have passed the test of a friendly opposition.
I say this because there were times when it seemed the ICC rules had been contravened and it seemed that all 22 players were playing on the same side.
Yousuf was the one man who raised in stature in my eyes for he blamed nobody but himself. It is very rare of any captain, let alone from our country, to point out his own indiscretion and then single nobody out either.
Sadly he wasn’t playing for Nobel prizes for self recrimination but to win a Test match. In the true Muslim spirit he had helped out his opposite number for the ridiculous decision of batting first on an overcast day following morning rain on a greenish pitch.
Whether Ponting will accept Islam based on this humane gesture or follow George Bush’s proclamation of The Crusade when he walks out to toss at Hobart depends on whether you are a realist or idealist.
Nothing told the story more fittingly than the slow motion shot of a Pakistani fan burying his head in the hands and then lifting it to slowly mutter an expletive. By then Umar Akmal was agonizingly looking around, like the child feeling abandoned in the country fair.
Earlier, his brother had set up possible a world record with four dropped catches and a missed run- out all in one innings, certainly for dropping one batsman three consecutive times within the space of some 20 runs. The Man In The Iron Gloves, with apologies to Alexandre Dumas.
But he was not alone. Someone had either got Wednesday wrong as being the last day (it can happen in a disoriented coterie) or a clever Aussie twittered that the IPL franchises were watching the Pakistanis for bidding based on their batspeed on Wednesday.
And so the suicide bombers had struck again. They have become the only team that is dangerous for both nations every time they step beyond the boundary; that they might have considered lifting the boundary rope to commit mass hara-kiri.
However, that would have been futile because the soul had already left the body during the suicide attack on a bowling side that has played 64 Tests between them with Mitchell Johnson contributing half of them. Together they have taken 270 wickets (Johnson 142).
On the flip side the Pakistani top five (minus Umar) have between them played 190 Tests, and Yousuf has less than half of them. To save the embarrassment let’s not mention the Test runs Pakistan’s five batsmen have collectively.
Yet Peter Siddle alone showed more maturity under extreme duress than these five put together. And that was the difference yesterday.
What is most poignant is that on the same ground 37 years ago to the week, Pakistan had lost in similar circumstances. Ironically, both the captains on that day were in the ground yesterday.
Ian Chappell was in the commentary box and Intikhab Alam inside the dressing room just as he had been in 1973.
I remember how Pakistan had got them cornered to 94-7 in the second innings of that match, and Australia led by only 69. As kids we woke up in the shivering darkness to glue ourselves to the radio expecting victory.
Australia eventually doubled their score as debutant Watkins (leg-spinner batting at No.9) and Bob Massie (swing bowler at No.10) who was in his first seven months of Test cricket, batted a session and a half to add 83.
Pakistan were left to get 158. Majid and Zaheer took them to 48-2 by end of the fourth day and we all
woke up in the misery of the cold again for the encore. By lunch the whole team was back in the pavilion for another 58 runs to lose by a decent margin of 52. In search of being pleasantly warmed we had been unpleasantly burnt by breakfast.
The last stroke of the Test match and series was by the despairing captain, a flick to backward square leg and fittingly caught by Watkins.
Walker in his second Test match (he had been caned for 112 runs for his two wickets in the first innings of the previous Test by the same Pakistani batsmen) had finished with innings figures of 6-15 in 16 overs.
In the second innings of the previous Test he had similarly torpedoed a 292-run chase by Pakistanis on a flat Melbourne pitch (after they had piled up 574-8 in the first innings) with 3-39.
Why would I bore you with this history lesson? Three reasons.
First, both Watkins and Massie never played a Test again as they were not considered good enough. It has to be pointed out that Massie on his Test debut seven months ago had taken 8-83 and 8-84 against the powerful England at Lord’s.
A year after playing the Sydney Test he was dropped by his state side Western Australia for lack of performance.
Conclusion: Debutants, no matter their heroic feats, are only as good as their last series performance when it comes to professionally run cricket.
Second, Ian Chappell’s positive vibes would have reached Ricky Ponting and no doubt he had told him that 37 years ago on the fourth evening he had heard that Pakistanis were actually afraid of losing the next day.
By contrast the negative vibes (no matter how much overtly disguised by clinched fists and sermons of “C’mon Boys”) of Intikhab would have penetrated the heart of Mohammad Yousuf.
He must have reminded him on the third evening of how they had leaked runs to the 10th wicket pair all those years back and why they shouldn’t this time.
That perhaps led to the strangely defensive field on the fourth morning. Intikhab was an isolated and insecure captain simply because he was a pleasant man who I am told by his colleagues just couldn’t be aggressive especially in pep talks.
He was the last man needed by Yousuf on Wednesday eve as he continues to be insecure even as the so called ‘coach’.
Conclusion: we need aggressive influencers with proven track record in support management. We need to pick our captains for the long haul like CA has chosen Ponting. He is still secure despite losing two consecutive Ashes series in England.
Thirdly, the events of that day 37 years ago this week has proven as a team we are Houdinis in extricating themselves from a winning position.
In the series in England prior to that Australian tour, we had slumped from 160-4 to 205 all out chasing 230 to win the Test and series. Intikhab was again the captain though it must be said that on both occasions his batsmen ditched him.
Conclusion: We have come full circle from the depths of the early 1970s mindset; after that had come the age of Imran and Miandad, and the captaincy of Mushtaq and Imran. That was perhaps the last time we played for passion, for our nation, for our people.
We are back again into the unknown; strangers sharing a journey, roughly tied up under the star and the crescent not knowing their purpose, their role or what is expected from them.
There are either the elders or the naïve, one tired physically and mentally, the other flapping its wings knowing whether to fly south or north.
Yet, I put my head into the guillotine and say that Aamir, Sami, Gul, Kaneria and Asif can skittle Australia on a ground where Pakistan has lost heavily in the two Tests they have played there.
Five bowlers you will say. Why not, Aamir has currently scored just 20 runs less than Misbah in the four Tests that both have played this season.
What a pity but what an opportunity to break into Australia on a seamer-friendly pitch and windy city.
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