WHILE watching Mohd Asif and Mohd Sami destroy Australia on the opening day of the Sydney Test match, I said to myself – wow – these guys have the Aussies on the rack. By bowling out the Aussies for a 127, it was more or less certain that Pakistan would win the game. Think of what it would do for the morale of the strife torn nation. Beating Australia in Australia would be better and bigger than even winning the T 20 World Cup in England last year.
The swing and pace that the duo generated set me thinking. It was like the old style demolition Derby by Pakistan pace bowlers. And then I saw Waqar Younis, the newly installed bowling coach sitting in the pavilion, obviously enjoying the predicament his bowlers had put the Aussies in. I am sure Younis, one of the finest proponents of reverse swing must have had something to do with the performance levels of the bowling combine. But Pakistan is not Pakistan, but Panickistan on the cricket field these days. If there is one side which is more mercurial than South Africa, then it has to be Pakistan. You never know what to expect from them. The next couple of days saw the script go according to the side’s maverick and unpredictable nature. They simply self destructed. First they allowed Peter Siddle and Mike Hussey to build a huge partnership through a combination of dropped catches and perplexing field placements. Skipper Mohd Yousuf had eight boundary riders in an unexplicable field setting which allowed Hussey to do pretty much as he pleased.
The momentum that Pakistan built up the previous day evaporated in no time. Okay, Yousuf is a novice, he doesn’t comprehend the nuances of captaincy, but coach Intikhab Alam and Waqar Younis also must have had some role to play in this shocking surrender. The Pakistan batters led by Salman Butt and Imran Farhat came out guns blazing wanting to wrap up the game in next to no time. Aussies masters of the mental disintegration game exerted enough pressure to land the kayo punch on what was truly a Pakistani glass chin.
Believe me, if the Aussies had lost this Test match after Ricky Ponting opted to bat on a green surface in the first essay, Ponting would have lost his captaincy. Two successive Ashes losses in England, vanquishings against India, the tri series lost to England and India, a home series loss to South Africa; Ponting is definitely under the cosh. Somehow or the other he manages to do a Houdini and escapes every time. Look at England, no great shakes as a Test side, they have pulled off three great escapes in the last few games. Men like Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions have displayed hitherto unknown steely resolve to stave off defeat. All Pakistan had needed to do was play the waiting game, the runs would have come and the target of 176 would have been surmounted.
Against that, they batted as if they had a deathwish. That Pakistan loss is unforgiveable, but that Pakistan lost an opportunity to knock the arrogant Aussies off their lofty perch in their own backyard is singularly criminal. Not after gaining a handsome first innings lead. Australians practice a strange kind of inverse snobbery when it comes to cricket. That they have been so successful ever since the demise of West Indian cricket doesn’t help one bit. You have to listen to the Aussie commentators to understand how this inverse snobbery is practised. Men like Mark Taylor, Michael Slater, Bill Lawry, Ian Healy, Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud and the South African born, played for England, Australian resident Tony Grieg and Shane Warne to a much lesser extent believe that the Aussies just cannot lose. When Pakistan plays sub standard cricket, it is pardonable, but the way the Aussies (commentators and writers) go about describing their opponents is shameful. That is why it is important for an India or South Africa or even an England to stand up every once in a while and show them their place. Agreed that Aussies play a brand of brash, tough and unyielding variety of cricket and they manage to play like that consistently, but in the recent past, they have shown that they are fallible.
South Africa thrashed them in Australia, as did England in England while we beat the pants off them the last time they were here to play a Test series. By using a strategy of reverse mental disintegration, India for one seems to succeed against Australia. One cannot back down against Australia, fire has to be met with fire. That is why it was important to have Sunny Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri in the commentator’s box along with the Aussies who I named earlier in this piece. Aussies have to be shown their place on the cricket field. And off it. Yes, they have a system which continues to throw up outstanding talent. Yes, they have a vast gene pool of cricketers as they have shown in the last couple of years, but like I said they can be defeated. Sides have to dominate them not just in one series, but consistently over a couple of seasons. India is the only side which has managed to do that over the last decade or so. The gladiatorial contests have reached epic proportions, generating heat, dust and controversy. Indians certainly don’t lack self belief when they play the Aussies.
But back to poor, hapless Pakistan. It was at the same SCG many years ago that Pakistan, always a side brimming with fine players first gave notice that it could be a world beater. Imran Khan simply scythed though the Aussies here in 1976/77 with a wonderful exhibition of hostile bowling. Imran took 6 for 102 in the first innings to bowl out Greg Chappell’s Aussies for 211. He was ably supported by Sarfaraz Nawaz. Just as Asif and Sami demolished the Aussies at Sydney last week. Pakistan then went on to score 360 with Asif Iqbal playing the innings of his life scoring 120 of those against Lillee, Walker and Gilmour. But unlike the latest fiasco, Pakistan had Australia on the ropes in the second essay as well, Imran blowing them out of the water with 6-63.
The Aussies could manage only 180. Pakistan got the jitters then too, losing two wickets, but the target was a paltry 32 and they got home safely. I thought Pkaistan missed a golden opportunity to revitalise its cricket. Many moons ago, Pakistan and Imran had seeded their vaulting ambitions at the same ground. Imran became a deadly dangerous quick only after he discovered himself at Sydney in that famous Test match. Dissension is the biggest downer for Pakistan cricket, everybody wants to be captain. Imran had managed quell all rebellions, douse all the mutinous fires and build a team of cricketers. That team was the dominant force of its time. Not that this team didn’t have its problems, Javed Miandad for one was an enfant terrible, but Imran through sheer force of his personality and playing skills became the tallest leader in Pakistan cricket.
Now there will be inquisitions and recriminations all over again in Pakistan cricket. After Yousuf’s captaincy disaster, maybe even the captain will be changed. Off with the head is a call that you hear every once in a while in Panickistan cricket. The call may emanate from within or it could come from the establishment that governs the game, but the call will come. Make no mistake. Not after Yousuf’s bizarre field placings. Kamran Akmal is already facing the chop chop with Sarfaraz having been airlifted from Pakistan. With Younis Khan hibernating, Shahid Afridi not playing Test cricket, Shoaib Malik ousted from the side; wonder who will lead Pakistan next. They have a formidable pace attack in Asif, Sami, Umar Gul and Mohd Aamer, their batting of course is in complete disarray, a leader may be able to lift them from this morass. It is important that Pakistan cricket revives itself, for Test cricket needs another strong side.
The inverted snobs in the Australian cricket team and the Channel Nine commentary team need to be taught a harsh lesson or two. For them it is not about a higher social class, it is about every other cricketing nation which appears to be inferior to them. Actually when the West Indies were the dominant force, cricket was bipolar to a great extent with the Aussies also having a great side. But since the decline of West Indies, the Aussies have been trapezing around freely. However, ever since the Aussies have dominated, this snobbery is back and how. I remember when the Australians beat India in 1969, they toured South Africa thinking they were the strongest team on the planet. Bill Lawry’s side got the hiding of its life.
It was billed as the clash of the titans. The verdict was 4-0 in favour of SA. The margin of victory was 170 runs, innings and 129 runs, 307 runs and 323 runs. It was a shocking denouement of Australian supremacy. Ironically Ali Bacher’s all conquering Springboks never played Test cricket after that. That was the last official series before the wilderness. This was actually the strongest team on the planet, but due to SA’s apartheid policy, none of them ever played Test cricket again. Imagine Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Mike Procter, Eddie Barlow, Lee Irvine, Peter Pollock, Dennis Lindsay and Tiger Lance in one team. All led astutely by Bacher. If Australian arrogance was ever punctured, it was in 1970.
