The long-awaited, doubly-welcome, meticulously-organised and efficiently-administered, brief but delightful, series between the cricket teams of Zimbabwe and Pakistan, which successfully concluded in Lahore last week, was towards the end a bit of an anti-climax as far as cricket is concerned as the match was ruined by cricket’s long time friend rain, and abandoned; the hosts won the series 2-0 and ranked ninth with 87 points are still looking for a place in the Champions Trophy.

However, the series was not just about pitches and tosses, referrals and runs, catches, stumpings and wickets, sixes, boundaries and singles, no balls, googlies and bouncers. It went way beyond these mundane daily happenings in the game of cricket. It came as a breath of fresh air after six years of suffocation and frustration for the cricket-crazy Pakistani sports fans. The credit of staging this event successfully goes to the disciplined crowd, the administration and the police, and to the organisers. As Walter Raleigh put it centuries ago, it “gave the lie” to those who thought that Pakistan was not a secure playing field.

The series was a culmination of [probably] year-long negotiations and efforts by the brilliant former diplomat who heads the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and his empathetic Zimbabwean counterparts who themselves had suffered similar problems in the past. Both sides battled against heavy odds, opposition and skepticism from various high powered authorities who went all out to torpedo this event. The Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) advised that no cricket team should tour Pakistan because of security reasons; did any FICA security representative ever undertake a tour of Pakistan to fair-mindedly study the problem and submit a detailed report with recommendations? Fortunately neither the Pakistani nor Zimbabwean players are members of this body, and as such the “advice” was heard and “filed” as No Further Action (NFA).

After the first ODI

The International Cricket Council (ICC), instead of supporting the efforts of the two Boards and encouraging their efforts, tried to put a spanner in the works and quoted their security experts as not being supportive of this breakthrough to which the ICC have been paying lip service and promising support through non-existent and non-working committees. Who are these ICC security advisors, and when did they carry out a thorough survey of the security arrangements; moreover, what exactly did they report? Only the ICC knows.

Sri Lanka continued to host international events during their “civil war” in the north for over 20 years and they were fully supported by India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and South Africa; and teams visited England regularly, even in the thick of Irish troubles.

For the Pakistan-Zimbabwe series the ICC chickened out by not agreeing to send their officials — umpires, referees and other observers. The ICC could have sent in subcontinental (Indian, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi) officials, of whom there are many, if the English, Australian, South Africans, New Zealanders and West Indians, had to be “protected.” After all a “remote” ICC referee did make his presence felt — so what was the local PCB referee doing? What were his duties? If a “remote” referee was there, why was his appointment not announced in advance? The Zimbabwean captain and his team were fined for slow over rate. To whom does the fine money go — ICC or PCB?

Mohammad Hafeez was the top-scorer for Pakistan with a run-a-ball 80 in the third ODI — AP

On the other hand, the broadcasters (an Indian-owned and managed company) with whom the PCB has had long term agreements over the years sent their crew which, if my information is correct (if not my apologies), are mostly Indians and of other nationalities. They include engineers, camera persons, producers, directors, technicians. It has surprised many a fan to learn that PTV (who we are told are “partner broadcasters” under the media rights agreement for PCB events) expressed their inability to cover this most important event on their own because of outdated — by a quarter of a century — equipment and an insufficient number of trained manpower. I refuse to believe this as PTV Sports comes up with lots of fanfare and there seems to be no shortage of funds whatsoever. I am sure there is some other explanation to this. But that may be another story.

Pakistan and Zimbabwe have noteworthy cultural and political ties. The Pakistani government has pledged to always “stand by Zimbabwe in its challenging times and continue to render assistance in every way possible in an effort to cement the already cordial relations between the two countries.” And Zimbabwe in turn have stood by Pakistan Cricket in its time of need

Do not forget that since the late 60s/early 70s, PTV has covered almost all major sporting events be they at home or abroad; and did a brilliant job which was appreciated and praised by all including the BBC. The silver lining to the cloud is that currently PTV has a very dynamic and experienced managing director and an energetic and enthusiastic director of sports. They must now be seized of this matter, and I am confident that corrective measures are already on the anvil as we may have more international cricket at home sooner than later. By the way, what happened to the PTV policy for having commentary in Urdu along with English which was initiated in the 80s? If PTV can have Urdu for domestic cricket why not for international matches. Dual standards, what? We now have multiple PTV channels and this could be conveniently managed.

It has been suggested on several occasions to the PCB that, like other boards, they should insist on having at least two if not three of their own nominees on the panel of commentators so that the Pakistani point of view is presented rather than have some foreigners give a distorted version. They always miss out, perhaps because of pressure from the broadcasters; hopefully this time they have made amends. I have my doubts. The latest agreement may be able to throw some light on this point. PCB’s management could supply a copy of this to the media. It is said that PCB did have a say in the choice of commentators for the domestic Super 8; hopefully this also applies to international telecasts although it appears that it was not so during the Zimbabwe series at Lahore.

Chibhabha was out for 99 in the second ODI

PCB is moving along swiftly on getting international cricket back as is evident from the invitation to the Sri Lankan chairman of the Interim Committee and one of his colleague to lunch (and to watch the final ODI). PCB should also have invited the chiefs of ICC, its full members and associate members, and some foreign dignitaries. Invitees should also have included high administrative officers and cricket chiefs of the various provinces and former Pakistan capped players. After all, from the day Zimbabwe end their tour a PCB official will be the president of the ICC; and one of his first tasks will be to facilitate the return of international teams to Pakistan not only to Lahore but to other cities of the country as well.

A last ditch attempt to jettison the tour was made when the Government of Zimbabwe met in an emergency session after the heinous, horrendous and horribly tragic Safoora Chowk incident. But full marks to the chief of Zimbabwe Cricket Union who stood firm in his commitment for his team to take the trip to Pakistan, and in fact accompanied the team on the journey as did a few other officials including the Managing Director. The Zimbabweans played in front of the overflowing Gaddafi Stadium in all the matches. There was no untoward incident, and they had almost equal support from the crowd. They looked very pleased with the crowd’s reception and support. There has been some talk that the entire series was played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore; and that other cities — Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan and Peshawar — were ignored and could have been included. I will advocate patience, and let the PCB work on future programmes with other cities of Pakistan included.

I will also take us all back to 1969 when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and said “that’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” Let Zimbabwe’s tour be that one small step, and now let us pray and hope that the PCB get their act together, and use this successful event as a platform for the leaps forward.

I will also take us all back to 1969 when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and said “that’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” Let Zimbabwe’s tour be that one small step, and now let us pray and hope that the PCB get their act together, and use this successful event as a platform for the leaps forward.

There was a minor inconsequential hiccup on the evening of the second ODI when according to the Lahore Police Chief a gas cylinder went off in an auto rickshaw [outside the “red zone”] resulting in a fatality and some injuries. Once again certain quarters tried to cry foul, but this was swiftly quashed by the Zimbabwean team management who after a brief meeting with the PCB officials, announced that the tour will go on and be completed. The incident was quite insignificant, and of even lesser intensity than the four bombs which went off in London during a Test match (the cricket continued); or the blast in Jaipur in an Indian Premier League match when the Australian Rajastan Royals captain and his team stayed on and played on.

Raza continued the fight after Chibhabha’s dismissal in the second ODI

It will not be out of place to mention here that there has been deep friendship between Pakistan and Zimbabwe for a very long time. Many Pakistani businessmen, doctors, engineers are settled there, and make a significant contribution to the economy of that country. A former (now late) hockey captain is greatly revered and has businesses and agriculture cultivations there. In fact, there is a road named after him in Mt. Pleasant area of Harare. Pakistan and Zimbabwe’s cricket relations date back to the 1970s when they played the World Cups and then from the 1990s when official exchanges took place once Zimbabwe got Test status. Although Pakistan mostly got the better of the southern Africans, there were times when they stunned them. In 1992/3 Zimbabwe won the first Test at Harare by an innings; and also in 2013 they won a Test match and an ODI at the same venue.

Both countries have always helped each other, be it bilaterally or be it at meetings of ICC or other committees. On this occasion Zimbabwe Cricket Union and their players are being suitably compensated for making the trip. And both parties deserve the reciprocal support and assistance.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 7th, 2015

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