COMMENT – The year 2010 will go down in the history of Pakistan cricket as their worst ever in terms of performance, controversies and mismanagement. This year Pakistan have been blighted by a spot-fixing crisis, player suspensions, captaincy issues and poor governance and as a result the spirit of the team has been weak.
The senior players simply failed to deliver at a time when they were needed to lead the way, while the juniors found it hard to assert themselves due to their lack of exposure. Another downside of the year was that at times it looked as if the team was filled with sycophants and easy riders rather than whole hearted individuals who deserved their place on merit.
Cacophony in Pakistan cricket is not something new but this year it has been worse than ever. The ineptness of the present Pakistan Cricket Board administration has taken a severe toll on Pakistan team’s performance specifically and Pakistan cricket generally. Just a year before the World Cup, when Pakistanis should have aimed to play an inspired brand of cricket, not only with bat and ball but also with the head, and should have worn their hearts on their sleeves, Pakistan cricket team lacked intent and a positive frame of mind.
The year 2010 began for Pakistan on a bright note when on January 3, they bundled out a strong Australian batting line-up for a paltry 127 at Sydney. This was Pakistan’s first game of the year and they couldn’t have asked for a better start. However, as the game progressed, fortunes started to change. Despite having a first innings lead of 206, Pakistan went on to lose the Test by 36 runs.
The events surrounding this defeat were susceptible at that time and those suspicions began to look even more realistic when an English bookmaker of Pakistani decent, who claimed to have fixed the match along with Pakistani players, was nabbed by the British police in August.
The bookmaker, Mazhar Majeed, also revealed that he had “spot-fixed” in the summer’s Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England with Pakistan star players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir being his main accomplices in this act. All this was revealed by the notorious British tabloid newspaper News of the World,which secretly shot a video of Majeed revealing that he had bribed certain Pakistan players to bowl no-balls during agreed overs of the Test.
This opened another Pandora box for Pakistan cricket, which was already going thorough one of the toughest times in its history. Allegations and accusations started to flow from all directions and doubts were raised on the outcomes of various games played by Pakistan. And in September, in an unprecedented move, the International Cricket Council (ICC), acting unilaterally, suspended the three Pakistani players – a first time move by the game’s governing body despite several serious allegations on other players going away lightly in the past.
The trio maintained their innocence and refuted the allegations, but there certainly seems to be a case of predisposition of culpability by ICC in an investigation that is still on. Earlier in the year, after a disastrous tour of Australia where Pakistan lost all of their matches, the PCB responded by penalising seven players it believed were responsible for the defeats, Mohammad Yousuf – the captain on the tour – along with Younis Khan were banned indefinitely, and as a mark of protest, Yousuf announced he was quitting the game “for now”, hinting at a possible return later on. Apart from these two, Shoaib Malik and Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for a year while Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers – Kamran and Umar were fined and placed on probation for six months.
In May, Pakistan had to defend their T20 World title in West Indies where they lost out to Australia in the semi-final after a close game. Now Pakistan had to announce a new captain before the tour of England and with no other suitable candidate available, Shahid Afridi was made the skipper for all three formats. Pakistan had to play their home series against Australia in England and after the first Test at Lord’s, Shahid Afridi suddenly announced his retirement from Test cricket, citing his lack of fitness to play Tests.
However, there was more to it as the sources revealed that there was infighting in the team which resulted in Afridi’s exit. Salman Butt was made the new captain and immediately Pakistan won the next Test in Leeds, which gave Pakistan their first Test win over Australia since 1995. After the two-Test series against Australia, the four-Test series against England started. With little experience in the batting department, Pakistani batting flopped big time against England seamers.
They lost the first Test at Nottingham by a whopping 354 runs, being bowled out for 182 and 80. Then in the second Test at Birmingham, they lost by nine wickets, this time managing 72 and 296 with the bat. Mohammad Yousuf was recalled for the third Test and suddenly the batting clicked and the team won the Oval Test by four wickets. But the joy was short lived as England thumped them at Lord’s to take the series 3-1 and the spot-fixing saga unfolded.
The controversies appeared endless. In October – November, Pakistan went to UAE to play South Africa for another home series away from home. After two T20s which they lost, the ODI series was nicely poised 2-2 after a heroic knock by Abdur Razzaq, who played an innings of a lifetime to help Pakistan to a one wicket victory in the second ODI. On the morning of the final ODI, wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider went missing from his hotel and was later found to have escaped to London.
Haider claimed he was being pressurised by unknown people to under-perform in the final ODI and had been threatened of dire consequences. The players might be at fault, but the entire Pakistani Cricket system is where the real problem lies. Mismanagement and lack of guidance by the Pakistan Cricket Board can be termed as the starting point.
Most of the players who went to England, and even to earlier tournaments, are young and na
Pakistan cricket’s Annus Horribilis
