From Pride to Pathos
Back in 2010, a Huffington Post article mentioned Pakistan’s sports condition to end up in a free fall from its earlier projectile growth. This was around 6 years back, when there were some bleak rays of hope still there. Now, if we look at the sports condition today, cricket inclusive, it has even come out from its free fall phase. It’s not falling anymore – its deep underground.
One might question why it is such a big deal. After all these are just sports. Sports in Pakistan, especially cricket lately (and rest of this article will be focused solely on cricket) has been a matter of national pride and glory. In a civil war-torn state, cricket has been giving a ray of hope to this nation. But do we expect too much from our cricketers. Winning and losing is a part of every game. Then why are we so sentimental about cricket?
“It is not that simple really,” says Hamza Ahmed, a student based in Islamabad.
“When you are choosing to play for your nation, you are making a commitment and you need to own that responsibility.”
This gives a different angle to the whole debate. The problem now lies in deciding what aperture should be used to perceive the game; just a game or a matter of commitment? And if so, what is the reason of the downfall? Do we lack talent? Do we lack infrastructure? Are we not coaching our players enough? Are political squabbles telling upon our cricketers too? Our girls however made us pretty proud recently, despite fewer resources and less attention? And the most important question of course is how we improve the situation?
The nation’s ire
This streak of defeats is not something new. Almost Pakistani team has not been able to be in top ICC rankings for quite a few years now. Even then, our nation had always followed the slogan Tum jeeto ya haaro, humein tumse pyar hai (We love you no matter you win or lose). Lala always remained a hero despite repeatedly disappointing the nation. However, the nation does not seem that accepting of the team now. There has been a volley of ire and anguish visible on social media and other platforms. What has finally led the nation to stop hero-worshipping our cricketers?
Hussaan Tariq is an HR professional and a cricket enthusiast based in Rawalpindi. He thinks watching cricket has lost all its fun.
“Spending our time in front of TV is no longer worth it,” he commented.
“You are investing your time, your energy, and above all your emotions watching these people who are supposed to represent the country and what do you get. It’s not about winning or losing, rather it’s about how you win or lose.”
What’s noticeable about our team is the fact that they tend to lose their nerves pretty easily. Handling pressure is something alien to them, teamwork is rather missing, and above all there is lack of direction on the field.
“I mean if you’re there to represent your country then you need to do it more gracefully,” Hussaan stated.
“I do understand that only one side can win, however, how you conduct the game is important. Recently, we have had a clear display of lack of interest, individual differences, poor commitment, poor reflection and repetitive mistakes. And then we are supposed to ignore all of it. How can we? Do not make a commitment if you can’t keep it up? You are playing for your country, right? Show some grace at least.”
So, it means that it is more than winning or losing. It’s more of a national thing. In short, cricket in Pakistan has transcended the status of a mere game. But is this attitude rational?
Samina Khan is a doctor based in Lahore. She does not understand all this hype about cricket.
“Isn’t it supposed to be a form of refreshment?” She questioned.
“I mean it’s not life and death.”
However, for Pakistanis, cricket seems to be more than just a matter of life and death. Hamza upholds this viewpoint.
“In a country like ours, cricket has been one of the few sources of national pride. But our team has spoiled it now.” He opined.
“This has been so disappointing; I don’t feel like watching cricket anymore.”
These statements explain it why we get so sentimental for our cricket matches. One problem arises because of this attitude: Are we not putting too much pressure on our players?
Why the downfall?
Now comes the question why have reached a point that is supposedly the lowest ebb of cricket in Pakistan. We have more losses than wins. In 2014 alone, we won 13 matches and lost 18, which is dismal.
“Governing body is important” says Hamza.
“PCB itself is crippled by politics, Couldn’t we come up with other than Najam Sethi. You can see what his tenure has been like. Such an important position should be filled on the basis of merit, not one the basis of personal ties. Maybe we need to re-think our choices.”
Training and proper infrastructure for this purpose are very important. With something that has been put on a pedestal like cricket, this has been pretty raw in Pakistan.
Jamal Nasir is an IT professional based in Lahore and he thinks these angles are very critical for success.
“Have you looked at how people are groomed for sports abroad?” he raised a point.
“I mean okay we are terror-laden and poor, but what are we doing for young talent in the country. I mean maybe I am getting off topic, but the way football clubs have specialized academies and training infrastructures, do we have even half of that in Pakistan for cricket? I suppose not. Then we are expected to win as well. I mean more than sentiments are required to bag victories.”
Coaching too has been a big issue.
“I know we cannot really compare football to cricket, but do you see how the football managers are such prominent figureheads for the game. What motivation are we offering to our coaches? I mean do our players, who are so united that they have eleven captains, care for what the coach thinks. And earlier we had this problem of having either a brown or a white coach. Why can’t we first decide on the basics?”
Another oft-repeated issue after the recent losses is Afridi.
“What a disappointment he is?” Hamza exclaimed.
Jamal however chooses to differ.
“Really do you think we can blame Afridi?” he raised his point.
“He has had his time. He has helped us win the previous T20’s. Now he is of age. Why put all the onus of blame on him. Aren’t there 11 players who are supposed to play well?”
Then there are these issues of leadership. Captains in cricket are very important. But we have been confused about it.
“For some reason, we are obsessed with Afridi, or individual players for that matter,” Hamza commented.
“Same goes for captaincy. We don’t gauge leadership skills. We hero-worship individuals, and then we make them captains.”
So all and all, lack of training infrastructure, political influences, lack of team orientation, and the lack of leadership are the main culprits behind the current poor performance.
Women’s team – our ignored talent
While the men’s team has been glorified and vilified repetitively, the women’s team has been ignored always. Even recently we are more interested in vilifying their male counterparts then glorifying their own victories.
Samina finds this very disturbing.
“This shows the gender discrimination inherent in our society.” She commented.
“Firstly, this win shows that women are no less than men. Secondly this shows that we have some talent that we can invest and then capitalize on. Maybe it’s time that we give more resources and attentions to them so that they can bring back some of our lost glory.”
Another irony is the way media always portrays doom and gloom, Hussaan raised this question.
“Firstly, we always portray the negative things more,” he said. “Secondly, if it is just about cricket then why did we not laud our women’s team? Even celebrations and sports in our society are more gender-specific.”
How the women’s team managed to perform so well with less resources and attention is something we need to find out, so that we can apply the same mantra on our men’s team.
Where now?
The next important question however is what we do to improve the situation. After all, we cannot stay frozen in the impasse of continual defeat. The key to solving any problem is to see the reasons for failure, recognizing those failures, and the eliminating those evils.
From the discussion above, we need to do a few things urgently. Firstly, cricket should be made free from politics. Again we need to focus on training. Our main training ground for cricket is our streets. We need to set up proper institutions. Again coaching and captaincy are important issues that we need to settle. Moreover, we need to make crocket free from gender stereotypes.
And above all, our cricketers need to shoes some commitment and devotion!
