Postmortem reveals a flawed national psyche
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The outpouring of anger and the scorn being heaped on the Pakistan cricket team and the establishment following the loss in the first two games of the World Cup is a classic case of barking up the wrong tree.
Things are getting so irrational that the Lahore High Court has admitted a petition seeking an inquiry into the poor performance of the team. No less than the Prime Minister of Pakistan has been named as one of the respondents. One would have thought that the august court had more useful pursuits than taking up such a frivolous case.
In addition to the vicious criticism, there are medicines being prescribed by both experts and quacks alike.
None of these cures will work because the problem is much more fundamental and solutions like changing the batting order or sacking the PCB chairman will not make the performance of the team any better. Summoning chief selector Moin Khan back from Australia for 'visiting a casino' would not change much either.
Of course, if the team wins the next game, all the pundits will claim that it was their magic formula that revived the team.
Also read: Watch the cricket, block the critic
The poor performance of the cricket team — or the hockey or squash players for that matter — cannot be analysed independently of the problems of the country itself. To expect that Pakistan can do well in sports while it is doing badly in almost all the spheres of life is myopic and unreasonable.
There are some obvious and other not-so obvious correlations between the poor performance on the cricket field and the conditions in the country at large.
The obvious one is the spread of violence and religious extremism that has resulted in the refusal of foreign teams to play on Pakistan’s blood stained soil.
Besides the much needed exposure to playing more foreign teams, it is definitely not a morale booster for the players to see themselves as the pariahs of the sporting world.
Then there is the loss of some of our best players due to their involvement in match fixing for financial gains.
Why should it surprise us that young Mohammed Amir makes a few bucks while all those in power are bleeding the country to death?
Also read: Will Amir's return hurt Pakistan cricket? No.
The point here is to not to justify what the match fixers did but to recognise that unless the deeper malaise of greed and materialism entrenched in the country are tackled, the corruption in sports will not end.
Off the field
A cursory examination of the social indicators of Pakistan clearly establishes that we are doing poorly in all spheres.
Education, health, justice, availability of water and power, and environment all are in a state of decline. The flowing filth that our politics has become has seeped into the offices of every sports organisation, be it the PCB or the Pakistan Hockey Federation.
Also read: Don't have high expectations from Pakistan in World Cup, says Sethi
As for the clamour for chopping off one head and replacing it with another, no one individual can make a difference if a proper system is not in place. Firing Mr X and appointing Mr Y as the chairman of the selection committee will surely fail if the appointment is not the result of a proper system but the whim and fancy of a few.
And no matter whether Younis Khan opens or plays at number three, there is a high probability that we will lose a match if the wicket is fast and bouncy, as we never had the wisdom of making quick wickets in Pakistan or have proper long term coaching programs in place.
Also read: The fault(s) in our 11
As for the state of depression that the loss in the two matches has caused in the country, it is very sad that the people have reached a level of misery that their happiness has become dependent on the victory in a game of cricket.
To expect 11 lads of a cricket team to improve the quality of life of a nation when all the institutions of the state have failed is unfair and idiotic.
For a cricket team to go from heroes with the swing of bat for six runs, to zeros with the death rattle of the stumps is a clear indication that a lot more than the cricket team needs to be fixed in Pakistan.
Related:
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Vaqar Ahmed is an engineer turned part-time journalist who likes to hang out at unfashionable places like shrines, railway stations and bus stops.
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On DawnNews
Comments (104) Closed
Feb 24, 2015 08:29pm
how is this an excuse to perform bad in sports? shouldn't it be the other way round - to defy all the negativity and prove ourselves! this has been done before ...
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Feb 24, 2015 08:29pm
May I suggest the respected authors to do some google search on what happens when regional or even club level teams perform in Brazil, Argentina and some parts of Europe. I would expect him to find an answer to justify their madness and associate it with national psychology.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:31pm
Exactly! Very well said.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:32pm
Some sane words in chaos.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:33pm
Dont agree to the author!!!
It is the tax payers money being paid to the cricketers. So its the right of the tax payers to ask them questions!
And if "Education, health, justice, availability of water and power, and environment all are in a state of decline" - how does that justify Ahmed Shehzad playing an outside off-stump ball uppishly to the fielder, especially when Pak were 2 wkts down???
Do you mean to say Shehzad was sent to bat without giving him enough water to drink? And so he played the irresponsible shot?
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Feb 24, 2015 08:33pm
By the way... liked the word "postmortem".
So you ve accepted that "its already dead"!!
hahahaha
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Feb 24, 2015 08:34pm
Very reasonable piece and i totally agree
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Feb 24, 2015 08:36pm
at least pak could learn from bangladesh. Poor politics equals to poor pakistan. Only coup can save pakistan
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Feb 24, 2015 08:37pm
Very good article.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:37pm
Hit the nail on the head.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:41pm
What a wonderful essay.
I was wondering who wrote this..definitely not some rookie ..then I read this
"Vaqar Ahmed is an engineer turned part-time journalist ..."...
read closer...
"engineer"...
Now it makes sense.
Moderate and Rational Muslims' thoughts/feelings/voices should be the future of your country for your own good.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:41pm
The Lahore High Court should better address the petitions of Asia Bibi, and those who are persecuted by the current Blasphemy Law.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:42pm
Completely agree.The country wants to take out there frustrations on these sportsmen while ignoring electoral fraud,financial mismanagement and corruption and breaking all the laws of this country themselves.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:46pm
So very true, I wish the people of Pakistan understand the virus that is eroding the country from inside out and eradicate once and for all.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:50pm
Very well written article people should find peace in other form not only in cricket. We can perform well if we are strong from inside; players are part of our society as a whole.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:50pm
Please add to your comment unnecessary fixation with India, It is just a game.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:51pm
When you have such a great patron of chief ,why should we blame anyone.
Except ourselves..WE voted for him. WE are responsible for the misery of pakistan cricket.
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Feb 24, 2015 08:57pm
The poor performance of the cricket team — or the hockey or squash players for that matter — cannot be analysed independently of the problems of the country itself. To expect that Pakistan can do well in sports while it is doing badly in almost all the spheres of life is myopic and unreasonable.
Thats wat i m trying to make my folks understand frm almost a decade...
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Feb 24, 2015 08:58pm
Merit based selection is required. Sarfaraz Ahmed, Fawad Alam, Hamad Azam, Sadaf Hussain, Naveed Yasin, Babar Azam, Rameez Raja Jr, Zafar Goha, etc etc.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:04pm
Wow great article. At least I can say for sure the journalism and articles written in dawn are way above those in my country (Indian) newspaper. ( Strictly my opinion no hate comments on this ).
Same thing can be said for Indian sports, cricket is never a real sport and is played only in few previously enslaved colonies , so making a hue and cry for the loss here is simply a joke in itself.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:10pm
This article has hit the middle stump ! Excellent job Vaqar Ahmed.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:15pm
@Lyra ...LOL. Didn't know that cricket was the only thing funded by tax payer ( any wisdom on how education, infrastructure, etc are funded). Now I know why nobody questions the Govt when education, infrastructure or for that matter Govt is not functioning as it needs to be. Because it is not funded by the tax payers. Pls somebody get me a Nobel prize for Economics.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:20pm
Great article; you have hit the nail on the head!!
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Feb 24, 2015 09:24pm
There is no talent left. People are being killed daily. Parents are afraid to send kids out to play. What do you expect?
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Feb 24, 2015 09:28pm
Excellent article...keep up the good work
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Feb 24, 2015 09:30pm
To write a correct analysis and to reach at some conclusion is not a child's job.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:50pm
Theek hai yaar ! Hotaa hai ! Not all teams are great all the time. Everybody goes through a bad patch. India had a bad patch for 20 years. So it's not the end of the world.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:55pm
@MAH are we that motivated to defy all odds? That's the very problem of the nation... not enough motivated.
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Feb 24, 2015 09:57pm
@Lyra it's dead and waiting to be buried but before that happens the corpse lying outside in the open is giving an awful stench.
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Feb 24, 2015 10:35pm
2 wrongs don't make it right. If all else is failing, it does not mean cricket has to fail. Yes things are connected and so on, but a sport is too much dependant on individual or team brilliance (unlike say the justice system or education or health systems). The PCB is a mess, the cricketing structure is a mess...but when the 11 players step on the field, one brilliant performance can change the dynamics and turn failure into victory and inspiration. With the current team, it seems a far-fetched thought, but it can happen because of 1 or 2 brilliant individual performances. (I cannot say that for our justice/govt/education/health systems etc)
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Feb 24, 2015 10:38pm
Spot on
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Feb 24, 2015 10:45pm
@Prasad, Bangalore
I was having exactly same thoughts after reading this article. I saw "Engineer" and things became more clear, becuase I am an engineer too.
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Feb 24, 2015 10:46pm
Excellent article. Why blame cricket when whole country is rotten through corruption. A country in which a glass for a public water cooler needs to be chained.
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Feb 24, 2015 10:50pm
Finally some words of wisdom from someone who understands the core issues. I had the same opinion. It's not just the cricket that is spiraling downwards, every institution in the country is performing poorly. Why just blame the 11 men? I totally agree with Mr. Vaqar. He has done great analysis of the situation. Education, Jobs, Sports everything is in a bad shape and unfortunately, I don't see anything changing in the near future. That is really a bad news for all of us. Finally, I would like to thank and congratulate Mr. Vaqar for this brilliant analysis. One thing that we as a nation is missing is "common sense".
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Feb 24, 2015 10:53pm
@Lyra You ask ... "And if "Education, health, justice, availability of water and power, and environment all are in a state of decline" - how does that justify Ahmed Shehzad playing an outside off-stump ball uppishly to the fielder, especially when Pak were 2 wkts down??? Do you mean to say Shehzad was sent to bat without giving him enough water to drink? And so he played the irresponsible shot?"
It is NOT a matter of "justification" of a wrong stroke by the batsman. If anything, this specific example merely explains the author's thesis that a sustained state of the national psyche being depressed leads people to develop an impaired ability to make good decisions. After all, when people have become doubtful about what is right and what is wrong, how can one expect them to make a perfect decision in a split second?
I agree with the author's overall contention, in fact he has given expression to what I was thinking myself.
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Feb 24, 2015 10:56pm
I just read some comments from other readers who did not agree with the author. Now, this is where the problem is. People simply refuse to use common sense. Someone has mentioned that if Shahzad is not playing well then that has nothing to do with the country's problems. That's exactly what author had tried to explain. It has everything to do with the country's problems. Don't you think shahzad should not have been in the team in the first place (if he has such a poor batting)? What about fawad alam in place of younis? Where are all the bowlers that Pakistan is famous for producing? Team selection is not right and that's because people appointed in the PCB are not efficient and that's because the government did not bother to put deserving people in command and why government is not efficient is anybody's guess.
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Feb 24, 2015 11:33pm
PCB only find Sarfraz Ahmed from largest city Karachi...but dont want him play yet
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Feb 25, 2015 12:23am
Let us scrap our cricket team.
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Feb 25, 2015 12:26am
Imran khan is the only answer for Pakistan now.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:00am
@Lyra Its not the tax payers money anymore dear. All these cricket boards these days make a lot of money from ads and royalties from companies, this is called corporate world.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:06am
i do not agree with writer that teams are not coming to pak because of religious extremism and voilence. Author is not aware of current politics played by india in icc or himself is of secular mind . How many churches are being attacked by rss and extremist hindu parties in india but still international teams are coming there so please .. im also an engineer and strongly follow current affairs and i believe icc,s objection on paki bowlers action at verge of world cup is enough for a person who knows bit of politics
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Feb 25, 2015 01:07am
Great article by Mr. Ahmed. Pariahs go no fault of their own, the players are doing their best on the field. While the law and order situation in Pakistan has been a prime cause of not enough match practice for players, the author has rightly listed other factors like endemic corruption having played a part.
What I don't get is the level of frustration that's manifesting itself in various janazaas. Get real, people, and get a life. It's only a game.
That said, Pakistan will make the quarters. All other matches are winnable.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:08am
@mazor Good comparison here! Bangladesh, like Pakistan, is facing a similar situation and needs an overhaul itself. But, look at the way their cricketers are putting up fights. And, in total contrast, our players are playing spineless cricket, thus, triggering the kind of criticism and scathing remarks that the whole world is witnessing these days. So, the national malady should not become a scapegoat for our so-called stalwarts to perform miserably in the World Cup.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:28am
There are no match winners in the team and no one from the present lot can make a place in the top four teams .
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Feb 25, 2015 01:43am
Everyone is talking about Pakistani politics this and that but no one says anything what is that causing disaster. Let me tell you, when you don't have any merit system in any department, when there is no law and order, when you start discriminating against other people, when you think you are better than others, when you treat poor like roaches, and last but not least when you have two biggest corrupt/racist/vultures so called Sharif brothers running country then all I have to say is GOD BLESS Pakistan!
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Feb 25, 2015 01:57am
Was Pakistan a developed country in 1992? and every other sector was doing well the cause of your victory?
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Feb 25, 2015 02:02am
so you are worse than Afghanistan and Zimbabwae, so to speak ?
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Feb 25, 2015 02:36am
At last! One very sensible article!
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Feb 25, 2015 02:37am
@Lyra. You raise a valid point about tax payer money and hence the right to question. But the very point of the article is how can you fix sport when the entire country is broken. In this case, questioning politicians and bureaucrats who loot tax payers money needs to be questioned and that needs to be fixed for the larger well being of the country rather than cricket becoming the priority. Sure Pak team winning WC would do wonders to the country. But the priority seems to have been misplaced if you know what I mean.
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Feb 25, 2015 02:55am
Pakistanis have nothing better to do than to watch and discuss cricket 24/7.
so please let them have a moment of peace and lament the performance of pakistani team.
If I say it is only a sport will they believe me.
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Feb 25, 2015 02:57am
Mostly agree
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Feb 25, 2015 03:02am
Make sense. .....its a sport only
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Feb 25, 2015 03:41am
@Lyra
I think you are not aware of how cricket boards work. They work like a private company with board as employer and players as employee. All income earned by Cricket boards is either by some commission earned by player's contract with sponsors or from telecast rights of various tournaments. No tax payer money goes to the cricket boards.
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Feb 25, 2015 03:58am
Very good article. Now, if only people would try to understand the rationale .... unfortunately, that is asking for too much.
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Feb 25, 2015 04:27am
Wonder why Columbia and other central american banana republics and pakistan have so much irrational fervor for sport win that people kill for it? Could it be that these countries are enslaved mentally by alien religious ideologies which make them lose their native organic roots (language, culture, ancestral connection) and now try to hold for any temporary win to keep their emotional morale high, in depressing situation all around?
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Feb 25, 2015 05:24am
@kumar Mr.kumar we are great at self criticism don't need your input thank you have a nice life obsessed with Pakistan idiot
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Feb 25, 2015 05:27am
@farhad yeh you have a problem with that
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Feb 25, 2015 05:49am
Mr. Ahmed, you spoke my heart. This is what I always say that how can we breed a clean water fish in a pond of dirty water, we need to clean the pond first.
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Feb 25, 2015 06:45am
@Mohammad Alamgir Stop lionising individuals and star improving the system.
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Feb 25, 2015 06:50am
@Insane voice 1992 was a fluke. Pakistan was loosing matches left and right before, during and after 1992 W.C. It might have been a great fixing scandal or real strange luck.
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Feb 25, 2015 07:17am
If rulers are incompetant and curroupt, what you except from the lowest ransk like Players who earn $5000PM as salary from the top
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Feb 25, 2015 07:23am
I think Pakistan will win the world cup. They have the best players.
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Feb 25, 2015 07:44am
Wow!! I am amazed that such a brilliant article has inspired such pathetic arguments in the comments. To be a world class professional cricket player, individual brilliance has very little to do with it in the modern day (although it may have worked in 1992). You need exposure to the world, so you learn how to field/bowl and bat against the best. Nothing develops in a vacuum.
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Feb 25, 2015 07:53am
It is not a frivolous case as huge sums of money from taxpayer's money is involved.
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Feb 25, 2015 08:40am
@qasim : International teams not coming to pakisthan because there was an attempt by terrorists to kill players of another nation, which never happened in India. Law and order in the country also counts..Is it possible to conduct an international match at Peshawar in the current situation?
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Feb 25, 2015 09:25am
@ Quasim,.......Mr. Ahmed an engineer by training has performed much better as
a Doctor, in analysing the malady/ the disease, Pakistan has been suffering over the years.
That serves as a plausible backgronud to explain why Pakistan deemed as A grade team
is facing difficult times and people at large throwing mud on players, selectors and even
the government.An attitude reflected in your comment is not an answer and hardly gets
o.k. from compatriots.Instead finding fault outside better be objective and that may cure
many sick spots in addition to cricket.Kudos to Ahmed for open objective analysis.
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Feb 25, 2015 09:58am
No leadership, no character in Team as well as in our whole nation.
Team is the mirror image of our society and Nation
Fraud, favouritism is our National asset
Shame ....shame .....for all Pakistanis
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Feb 25, 2015 11:20am
This just shows the level of depression with the system. National psyche identifies PCB and its incumbents as part and parcel of a system that refuses to deliver or change and which has made the lives of ordinary citizens miserable. So you need to see the national outcry against the cricket team's defeats in a larger perspective.
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Feb 25, 2015 11:22am
This all anger and frustration against the defeats is justified. People are crying against unaccountability
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Feb 25, 2015 11:29am
@qasim another conspiracy theory
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Feb 25, 2015 11:32am
It is over simplistic generalizing attempt to explain away the debacle . It is not unknown for sports person from impoverished countries , countries torn by internal strife , to excel in the sports events . Team games like cricket depend very much on , carefully prepared strategy and execution of the same . Where as individuals are important .finally it is team effort . How ever if a captain of the team is uninspiring misfit in the ODI format , the team cannot do well .Any other individuals lack of performance can be over come by others but not that of a captain. Why would Pakistan Choose Misbah as captain and that too for world cup is very baffling .Obviously not much cricketing thoughts have gone into it .
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Feb 25, 2015 11:35am
Good to see a view based on critical thinking !
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Feb 25, 2015 11:44am
"taxpayer tuxpaye er tucks paer" You do realize that about 1% of pakistanis actually pay income tax, right?
As for the article it was brilliant, you can't expect a nation riddled with all the wrong and inequities of the selfish and tyran- ... well my point is: good article.
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Feb 25, 2015 12:12pm
Yes I agree with the author. Pakistan's cricket team is a group of talented young players and they should be respected by all pakistani's and cricket loving fans all across the World.They definitely play to win and one day I am sure they will win.The amount of hard work in difficult domestic situations they put in if replicated by ordinary Pakistani (in his respective field), I am sure country will improve a lot. They deserve respect and should be respected at-least by Pakistanis
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Feb 25, 2015 12:28pm
wow...great insight!Applicable to my country as well...which sees win against Pak = winning World Cup.
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Feb 25, 2015 12:31pm
PM being the patron in chief of PCB, the issue needs to be tackled from the top. Appoint the right Chairman PCB, the rest will follow.
Secondly, please stop this generalisation of 'hero to zero'. Majority of the people have atleast this much of understanding that they can differentiate and appreciate accordingly, between a well fought match and a one where it is just a lousy surrender.
Also, our so called professional cricketers hide their defeats behind the 'over reaction' of the crowd and do not complain about their 'over reaction' incase of a win.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:00pm
Then how do you explain the Pakistani cricket team of the late 80s / early 90s? Our country's situation was just as myopic or arguably worse back then, but the cricket team prospered its way to the top.
The author is right in that our public has got its priorities wrong and its attitude towards the team is probably a result of frustration with other aspects of life (cricket is one of the few positive outlets they can count on for entertainment), but it's very much possible to be a good sporting team regardless of the country's political situation. I think it's the team and board's attitude that's mostly at fault here.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:09pm
"To expect 11 lads to improve the quality of life of a nation when all the institutions of the state have failed is unfair".
Agreed lock, stock, and barrel. Nothing can be studied in isolation without taking the complete scenario into account, And what is the complete scenario- a nation which has everything in total disarray -millions of fingers pointing towards each other. All what we see (and to a common man very little is visible) is rooted deep in corruption nepotism hypocrisy the hallmarks of present day Pakistan. I pity us when i see day in and out the hype being created in different TV channels. We all know deep inside that this team is not capable to deliver. God will never help us untill we decide to help our self. When the entire Nation does not have the guts to rise above sectarianism,ethnicity, favoritism and many many such other ailments- then how you expect a small segment do so.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:12pm
What a brilliant article and it makes lot of sense.It is heart warming to know that we have few sane individuals left in the country.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:37pm
An Excellent Article that represents the thinking of all sane Pakistanis.So the fault does not lie in our stars (read the SYSTEM put in place by US). Let's then improve ourselves by improving the SYSTEM.God does not help those who do not help themselves.
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Feb 25, 2015 01:47pm
people are happy with corrupt political leaders; why blame cricketers ?
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Feb 25, 2015 01:49pm
@Insane voice 92 victory was by chance
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Feb 25, 2015 02:02pm
All said and done- please remember "Self defence crumbles when self pity sets in"! Enough is enough!
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Feb 25, 2015 02:12pm
@Insane voice
1992- 1992- my God this has been quoted so many times specially during IK Dharna that now it seems more primitive than Mahmood Ghanavi's or Mohammad Bin Qasim's victories.
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Feb 25, 2015 02:22pm
@kumar this time it wasnt for india ..this time it's how pakistan lost to westindies..they gave up didn't fight at
all.. dropped catches
Though i totally agree with the author
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Feb 25, 2015 02:47pm
I wonder how poor Africans,Argentines,Brazilians and many other poor country,s chaps win medals.And why is England loosing.
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Feb 25, 2015 02:47pm
@M@ri@ i think it does have a correlation with the social , political and administrative infrastructure.. how many schools in pakistan now have playing grounds with them considering school and college level cricket was once nurturing grounds for cricket here..though we always lacked proper sports boards related facilities. .this is because of tremendous sprouting of private substandard schools with improper educational and extracurricular facilities plus instead of physical activities now a days it's more of mental exertion on computer/ console games cable, Internet. .and obviously insecure environment in which parents feel is better for their kids to stay home. .our hockey team this time didn't have funds to participate in champions trophy..thanks to generous private donation by a local business man..jhangir khan and jahanshair khan were provided facilities by pakistan air force not pakistan government..
Lack of secure environment in pakistan is failure of the state because of which no foreign team or player (ie sqaush) investor or sponsor comes to pakistan..which makes the sports less lucrative and challenging which decrease the quality ultimately..
Current environment and insecurity(physical mental financial)causes psychological trauma which one way or the other all pakistanis are undergoing..this insecure psychological mental state is what we see on the ground, either careless or depressed and confused
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Feb 25, 2015 02:56pm
Absolutely Right. Brazilians are more crazy about Football but Germans had beat them in semifinal, 2014 World cup by 7-1. Germans are well Organized, Disciplined and hence less vulnerable, in the sports and as a nation too.
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Feb 25, 2015 03:00pm
If they win then "Each will get a flat in Dubai" is the medicine.
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Feb 25, 2015 03:29pm
It's bad when a team loses and it's even bad when it loses against its arch rivals! Nevertheless in my view its just a game, so makes sense to focus on improvement areas and come back determined. I was watching a news program clip uploaded on Youtube, showing Mr. Kamran Shahid interviewing Mr. Sheikh Rashid. To be very honest, being an Indian, supporting Indian cricket team is natural & a given, but I was extremely pained to see the senseless emotional outburst from a senior Pakistan politician against your national cricket team! I am sure every cricket fan from India appreciates the cricketing talent that Pakistan has produced! And just because your lads are not able to finish well, do they deserve such scorn? I wonder if Mr. Rashid's own children fail in their exams, is he going to motivate, coach and mentor them or is he going to "bury" them as he said? I wish Mr. Rashid, first of all learnt some etiquette and showed respect towards people who carry your national pride!
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Feb 25, 2015 03:37pm
A rare sane perspective!
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Feb 25, 2015 03:50pm
Agreed
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Feb 25, 2015 04:21pm
I totally agree with the writer. One cannot expect that our cricket team or for that matter any team will bring laurels when in all other spheres we are declining.
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Feb 25, 2015 04:45pm
@qasim you are an engineer you are not able to differentiate between attack on Indian church(petty theft) and attack on mosque in Pakistan where people die everyday by either bomb or by bullets. BTW bomb and bullets can kill anyone, players too.
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Feb 25, 2015 04:52pm
Many team players and majority of criticizers require psycho therapy to cool down.
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Feb 25, 2015 05:22pm
perfect article...it touched ma heart.....
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Feb 25, 2015 05:42pm
Quite respectfully, I completely disagree with your thesis because it is devoid of any factual basis. Changing the batting order "will" make a difference, so will things like batting first, playing an extra spinner, not using a part-time wicket-keeper. All these things are "cricketing solutions" and one needs to have a cricketing brain to think of these as solutions. I'm not sure you have one, with all due respect.
Also, let's not forget we have always won a number of series and won the T20 world cup amidst political and social turmoil.
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Feb 25, 2015 05:45pm
Imran Khan should fix PCB and the poor state of Pakistani cricket in 90 days.
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Feb 25, 2015 05:55pm
The buck stops at PM or whoever heads a country.
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Feb 25, 2015 07:30pm
Was Pakistan world no 1 in all social and economic indicators when it won world cups in 92 and 09? And when we were champions in hockey and squash?
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Feb 25, 2015 07:30pm
Finally a sane voice ..I feel disgsusted at the amount of bitterness and scorn directed at pakistani team ..the media is to be blamed..Winning in cricket does not mean upliftment of society as a whole which many pakistani brothers and sisters feel..there is going to be just one winner..I am an Indian and a die hard cricket fan and disgusted at the hype created by idiot media..at the end of the day players are only humans..ok..granted their performance was dismal..but try to look at the silver lining..they finally know what went bad..for me only thing missinig was planning-pacing innings,taking quick singles-twos,willingness to stay in the middle..pakistan is just one game away from the much required momentum shift..and who knows what lies ahead in store..back them people..to conclude my rant i leave you with this beautiful shair :
"Zindagi ki asli uraan apki abhi baki hai,
Apke iraado ka imtehaan abhi baki hai,
Abhi to naapi hai muthi bhar zameen,
Aage sara asmaan baaki hai."
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Feb 25, 2015 07:53pm
Nice analysis...but this all negative thinking of fellow readers could change into positve if Pakistan wins. Next match...give them one chance so be positive thats what you can do instead of scolding ...
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Feb 25, 2015 09:35pm
@IndiaWithPakistan Lovely couplet, and so appropriate.
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Feb 27, 2015 03:31am
As Pakistan trains for their crunch game against Zimbabwe on Sun. 1 March, we hear at least one rational and sane voice from a beleagured and confused nation (in general with some minor exceptions), whose priorities and sense of direction have all gone wrong and awry!
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