Pakistan wins maiden Caribbean Test cricket series, but loses two legends
In these troubled times, when smiles are cynical, mocking or scornful, even a joyous event comes tempered with sorrow. So it was that while in winning the third cricket Test at Roseau, Dominica the greenshirts erased 60 years of barren record spread over eight tours since 1957-58, they also bid adieu to their most successful captain, with 26 Test wins in 56 matches, and legendary master batsman with 10,000 plus runs and a record thirty four centuries, both of whom hung up their cricket boots. Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan were the ‘graybeards’ and gentlemen of Pakistan cricket and its backbone, still going strong despite the intense nature and physical demands of commercial cricket. They leave a void initially difficult to fill, but hopefully there will be no dearth of young bucks straining at the leash as worthy successors of the duo. Australia now remains the only country which has denied Pakistan a series victory down under. One down, one to go. Therein lies the road to future cricket glory.
The decisive third Test was a tense and dramatic thriller till the end, as the last West Indies pair needed to play out just one over to draw the match and level the series. Thankfully, no off- field calamity, no self-inflicted wound, struck the usually scandal-prone tourists, a miracle in itself. The green shirt’s batting was dreary and over-cautious, and the lack of a natural attacking batsman was keenly felt. The hosts fought defiantly, but Caribbean cricket is hindered by desertion of top stars to Indian Premier League and other Twenty 20 bashes, repeated player rebellions, loss of young sporting talent to more glamorous and lucrative soccer or athletics, and their Cricket Board’s financial dehydration.
Though it is like asking for the moon, this is also an opportune time for the pair at the Pakistan Cricket Board helm, creatures of patronage, to stand down in favour of former national players, democratically chosen in fair elections, who truly understand the intricacies of the modern game.
