The Women’s cricket team returned on July 17 from their atrocious campaign at the ICC Women’s World Cup where they lost 7 out of the 7 games they played.
Fortunately for the girls nobody was particularly paying attention to their performance. Sure, there were grumbles and mumbles and talk of an unnecessary change in leadership, but that is all just part of the automatic backlash that is bound to rear its ugly head. Whatever the situation, they did still lose all of their games.
Of course nobody had paid enough attention to know that they had lost numerous times from promising situations and a lack of comprehensive information meant we shrugged in annoyance and turned our head the other way.
Besides, we had more important and interesting things to obsess about than a women’s world cup. The entire nation is still on a high from the men’s victory in the Champions Trophy as can be seen by the continued gifts being showered upon them. On the other end is the never-ending and ever-more fascinating panama case. Why would anyone ever pay attention to the Women’s cricket team when there is just so much more on everyone’s plates?
However, in the middle of a busy time for the country’s minds with so much to pay attention to, there was one incident involving the women’s cricket team where we did collectively stop, hurl a couple of abuses at the PCB and then turn back towards more important things.
When the women’s team landed back in Pakistan on July 17, news reports began spreading about there being no arrangements for the players to be escorted home. Word got around that the board had not organised a bus that would take the players back to their homes. Things became worse when pictures of one of the world cup players emerged returning home on the back of a motorbike with her cricket bag, bat sticking out and all, hanging from her arms.
Everybody was outraged. Maybe it’s the deep set feeling in most men that women need to be protected or maybe it’s just that everyone has the time to turn around for a moment and say a couple of bad words to an authoritative body (the PCB in this case) and then go back to whatever. Or maybe it’s just anger at a clear injustice and blatant mismanagement.
All this indignancy, however, became a little redundant when the PCB Thursday evening in a press release declared that the players who had gone back home on the motorbike and others that did so did of their own violation after seeking permission from the team manager. The PCB had arranged a bus to take the players back to the National Academy and transportation for them to go home form that point onward.
What must be realised is that the PCB is a very large organisation with substantial funds and some very talented people. Despite all else, they are capable of following basic procedure and arranging such things as buses.
Moreover, considering that it was the player’s own choice to return on the motorbike with her father, it should be taken as a true symbol of passion for the game. It is obviously visible that she has not made fortunes through the game. Yet she still persists. And all that asides, she does not seem to feel any shame in travelling back home on a motorbike. There is nothing shameful about it either, then why try and even imply that something is wrong with it?
Whne Jamshed Dasti and Sheikh Rashid were seen on motorbikes, they were taken as Awami heroes. Nobody was outraged at that.
But what is even sadder is the fact that people, and the media, found it as easy to comment on the return of the women’s cricket team without any knowledge of it. Just as they found it easy to comment on their performance in the world cup with no knowledge of it.