I grew up in 1990s watching Pakistanis garnering trophies in cricket, hockey, squash and snooker simultaneously. The many heroes of our national teams were held in high esteem. Wasim Akram, Shahbaz Ahmed Senior and Jansher Khan, just to name a few, were considered icons of their games – and role models for the nation.

That said, cricket remained the most popular sport among Pakistani youth. Frenzy for the game took hold and poured into the streets as scenes of young kids playing cricket with tennis balls became common. Some argue that it was the absence of new gadgets in that era which made cricket the most popular sport, but I think it was the intense feeling of affiliation with the cricket team that had turned every young boy into a bowler or a batsman. Even those who could not wield a bat or bowl at a good length used to reply, “we are good fielders.”

One of the first sentences that my younger brother learned to say was, “Mai Taiy Peeti hun,” which was his garbled attempt at saying, “Mai Shahid Afridi hun” (I am Shahid Afridi). Like my baby brother, every young Pakistani had his or her hero in the team. Unfortunately, the pathetic display in the 2003 World Cup, which later led to a surgical operation of the team, lost the game many fans. Cricket was never the same again. The introduction of the Twenty20 format may have reinvigorated fans in recent days, but the team’s lacklustre performances in the other formats of the game followed by recent disciplinary actions against several team members have left much to be desired. The tragedy of cricket losing its young fans can be gauged by the fact that the youth no longer hold the players in high esteem. And why would they?

When the players start getting slapped by frequent bans on stupid yet apparently avoidable actions; when the Afridis start biting the balls; when the Akhtars spend most of the time off the field; when the Asifs are caught with illegal drugs at foreign airports; when the Maliks and the Yousufs fight duels for the captaincy – that’s when the young ones turn off their TV sets and turn on their gaming consoles. It is the time when people start taking the match-fixing allegations of Sarfraz Nawaz seriously.

Even the most loyal fans feel it is a waste of time to put up with the present misery inflicting the game. They are left disillusioned and frustrated at the sorry state of affairs of Pakistani cricket. Qudsia Sadiq, a young philanthropist, says, “I have been a very keen follower of our cricket team. I used to wake up early in the morning to watch their matches. But I do not bother to do that now. I fear the match-fixing mafia has finally penetrated. The players do not seem to take pride anymore in playing for the country. Why should I watch the game?”

On a slightly different note, Qazi Saleem, a young engineer who has represented his college in many cricket tournaments, still sees a silver lining. He says, “It’s high time player power should be destroyed. It’s time to infuse the team with new blood, with players who know what is at stake when they are representing the country. The culture of nepotism should be done away with.” Saleem seems more determined to fight harder to make it to the national cricket team.

The security situation in the country has also hurt the cause of cricket. Even those who did not play on the streets used to go to the stadiums with painted faces and placards to cheer for their team. Unfortunately, there will be no international matches for the time being. The 2011 World Cup has been taken away from Pakistan and, in the process, the hopes and plans of many have been shattered.

Cricket will hardly die away from Pakistan, for hearts of many still beat with it. However, the youth will search in vain for role models or icons within the game owing to the fact that current players have broken many young hearts. I am not arguing that our cricket team was ever invincible. We did face many defeats before 2003. But back then, when you asked a kid about his or her heroes in the team, even after our team had lost a match, he would always come up with one or two names. Now you often get the reply, “I do not follow cricket anymore.”