The spat between Shahid Afridi and the PCB is assuming the form of a full scale war as the former has gone to court to get a stay order against the PCB. The PCB has taken back the NOC which allowed Afridi to play for Hampshire as well as in the Sri Lankan T20 league. The battle lines have been drawn as cricket itself takes a back seat.
Afridi’s removal follows the manager’s and the coach’s report, citing his indiscipline and lack of leadership qualities. Afridi’s mercurial personality is evident from the interviews he gives as well as from his batting style. It seems that throughout his career he is finding his debut world record innings against Sri Lanka a hard act to follow.
His captaincy is devoid of imagination, using his own personality and motivational ability to extract performance from his players. That might work for a little while but can get tiresome in the end. It was for these reasons that this column had suggested that Misbah ul Haq captain Pakistan in all forms of the game. A cool, calm and collected individual, Misbah is just what a young, excitable team needs.
The rumours emanating from the West Indies tour point to the fact that, after winning the ODI series, there was some conflict over selection of players for the remaining two games. The Karachi-Lahore divide came to the fore and Pakistan lost two ODIs they should have won.
Player power has been a relatively recent phenomenon in international sport. In the first half of the twentieth century, the associations were all powerful. They could order the players around, ban them, tell them where they could play and where they could not. There was a clear line drawn between the professionals and the amateurs. The professionals were the outcasts even though the amateurs, at times, made more money under the table. Amateurs would win money in fixed card games or ridiculous bets like whether they could jump over a table! The hero of the 1912 Olympics was a man called Jim Thorpe, who won the pentathlon and the decathlon. A superlative athlete of mixed American Indian and Caucasian lineage, Thorpe’s medals were taken back because he had played baseball with a semi pro team some years before.
In 1931, the Wimbledon finalist Frank Shields was ordered by the USTA to default the final in order rest his ankle for an upcoming Davis Cup tie. Sidney Wood won the only Wimbledon title to be decided by walkover. Shields could not dare defy the USTA. Try telling Roger Federer to not play in a Wimbledon final!
This preponderance of authority was the case all over the sports world, Pakistan included. Omissions and commissions were made in teams according to the whims of the powers that be. In a famous instance, a player on the Rome Olympics bound Pakistan hockey team was removed from the train taking him to Karachi and another player with a similar name was substituted. The excuse was that there was a mix-up because of the similar names.
Things changed in the 1960s and 70s when the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women’s Tennis Association started to make their presence felt. Tennis became open in 1968 and the professionals were permitted to compete at Wimbledon and the other majors. The ATP now runs its own tour and the ITF organizes the four majors and the Davis and Fed Cups. Other sports followed suit. For cricket, it was the Kerry Packer affair that gave the players the space to fashion their own power base. All this has, generally speaking, been for the betterment of sport.
The problem between the PCB and Shahid Afridi might be that Ijaz Butt is a product of the late 1950s where he played under the all powerful BCCP and Afridi came into his own when player power had established itself. It is now a tug of war between two immovable objects. Ijaz Butt may be on the ascendant, legally, as Afridi had broken his contract rules by giving press conferences and statements that the PCB regarded as controversial. Afridi has announced yet another retirement, this time conditional on the present PCB leaving the scene. The battle lines have clearly been drawn.
Afridi is playing up his popularity among the masses. He has also gone to court and attained a stay order. The PCB is playing the breach of contract card. Whichever of the two wins will define the limits of power between the PCB and the players. What might be better is for the two sides to sit down and talk it out over dinner. Nothing softens the attitudes like a well-cooked, well-served repast! Cricket would then be the winner.
The Wimbledon fortnight is upon us. For us in Pakistan, the major point of interest would be the chances of the Indo-Pak express of winning the men’s doubles title. Coming from the red clay of Europe to the lush green lawns of SW19 would be a relief for the duo, who are at their best on fast surfaces. Their main rivals would be the Bryan brothers, but there are several other very experienced teams that they would have to negotiate en route. Sania Mirza-Malik would also be in the running, although her lack of a reliable serve precludes her from beating the very best players in singles. Sania has a good chance in the doubles and the mixed. She recently lost in the women’s doubles final of the French.
This column will be at Wimbledon and will provide daily news about our players as well as the Championships in general. Stay tuned.
