Cricket tour to India in serious trouble (11 January 1999)

11 January 1999

Cricket tour to India in serious trouble

By Lateef Jafri

A question mark hangs over Pakistan's impending cricket tour of India after the Hindu zealots of Shiva Sena dug up the pitch at Delhi's Ferozeshah Kolta ground showing their anger against the programme of Test and other matches.

The Sena said they would go to any extent to prevent Pakistan from playing in India. The chief of the Delhi unit of the militant party, an ally of the ruling BJP, headed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, went a step further by warning of physical assault to the neighbouring squad. Jaibhagwan Goel said he was not ruling out physical violence against the touring players. It was now for Pakistan to think about the safety of its players.

Though the Indian Home Secretary said the Test in Delhi would in any case be played and pledged adequate security to foil any attempt to disrupt the tour, the Pakistani officials and cricket organisers are in two minds to allow the players to cross the border and face the ire of the Hindu fanatics, whose another wing is harassing the Christians, damaging and burning their prayer halls.

Both Majid Khan and Khalid Mahmood, Chief Executive and Chairman of the Pakistani board, are caught in a dilemma after striking commitments with their Indian counterparts. They are sending a board representative to India to assess the security situation fpr tje tea, amd tp tale tje advice of the High Commissioner, who has expressed his concern over the new incident and is uncertain about the safety of the players.

Newly-appointed captain Wasim Akram wants the tour to go on, through he thinks the players will be under considerable pressure and they will not be able to exhibit their full potential. People in India love cricket and they want to the see the Pakistanis in action was Wasim's argument in favour of the tour.

Coach and cricket manager, Javed Miandad, on the contrary, felt that the trip should be put off, temporarily for the players are very worried." This was not the right occasion to go to India after the Delhi vandalism. We have to stay in India for two months," he pointed out in a worried vein.

The advice of Arif Ali Abbasi, former Chief Executive and Hasib Ahsan, is on the same lines but they want cancellation of the risky tour. The message from India is clear, the Pakistani side is unwelcome there, said Abbasi.

Hasib Ahsan, former Test off-spinner and ex-chief selector, said nothing would be gained from the trip; the players' safety would be in danger, opined Hasib.He pointed out that Australia and West Indies had avoided playing in Sri Lanka due to security risk.

There is also a feeling in the cricket circles that possible injuries to players by hooliganism in India may weaken the lineup for the World Cup.

The cricket enthusiasts would only feel saddened over the mix-up of politics with cricket and the fourth time failure of a revival of cricket programmes between the two countries.

Though Pakistan featured in the World Cup quarterfinals against India at Bangalore in 1996 and the following year played in a limited-over competition for the Independence Cup in India the countries have not been exchanging cricketing trips in their own lands for over a decade. This was India's turn to play host to the neighbouring country.

The Shiv Sena extremists had thrice upset the set schedules of Pakistani tours of India. In 1991 Bal Thackeray's emotional workers had vandalised the strip at Bombay's Wankhede Stadium. The Hindu militants vented threats twice again in 1993 and 1994 to deprive Pakistan of the chance to measure strength on the Indian soil - not in foreign territories like Toronto or Sharjah. As it was the Indian government had given a green-signal to the tour and Islamabad may have followed suit. But perhaps things have changed.

The fans of the game of the two countries may have liked their teams to have tested strength on the fields but regretfully the Indian fanatics have queered the pitch.

If the atmosphere had been propitious Pakistan had, on its part, made the necessary preparations for facing India on the latter's venues and had named a captain and made arrangements for camp drills.

The board's executive council brought the speculations on the captaincy to an end by nominating Wasim Akram for the significant post.

The decision, to reappoint him captain for the fourth time in five years, according to the officials of the PCB and its media adviser, was a unanimous one, though some newspapers have given the impression that there were reservations on the issue by some members. This may be because of the long and continuing proceedings of the inquiry commission on the betting and match-rigging scandals, in which leading players are reportedly involved and under examination.

The inquest by the governmentappointed one-man high court judge has been delayed because of the necessity of further interrogating Australian superstars, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, by a Pakistan team of legal experts in Melbourne. Both created a stir in the international cricket circles recently by revealing that they had taken money for selling pre-match information to an Indian bookie.Certainly the Pakistani probe took a new turn and Justice Malik Qayyum of the Lahore High Court, who is performing the onerous responsibility, has justifiably come out with the reported comment that the scenario has undergone a change. Even the legal adviser to the PCB, Ali Sibtain Fazli, who has journeyed to Australia with the Pakistani investigators to re-examine the Australian cricketers, admitted that Mark Waugh's credentials after the new bribery revelation, were suspect. However, in a few days the latest about the cross-examination in the premises of a Melbourne court will come to light.

The doubts over Wasim Akram's candidature for such a prestigious appointment as captain were entirely due to the possible legal hitch. Ali Sibtain Fazli, who deals with cricket affairs as a lawyer and was specially invited to the council meeting at Lahore's Qadhafi Stadiums, cleared the air by saying that everyone should be considered innocent unless and until proved guilty.

After Sibtain's legal opinion had been taken the hands of the Councillors were not tied on taking a pro-Wasim decision while the commission was doing its work of collecting facts regarding the gambling and match-fixing allegations to have a correct assessment of the complicated issue. The PCB officials, however, were apparently confused on the steps to be taken if a punishment, a severe one, was recommended by the judge. In any case, the patron of the board, President Rafiq Tarrar, will be the supreme authority to guide the governing body of the country's cricket. It will undoubtedly be a major crisis confronting the board.

After the victory of the Australians in the Test series and the dramatic defeat by Zimbabwe in one completed Test and latterly the intervention of a strange weather in the northern belt of country which gave the rubber to the African tourists it was quite evident that Aamir Sohail's chances as captain had been ruined. Besides, he was an unwanted player in the squad. Wasim, in the opinion of the scribes and cricket observers, was the odds-on favourite for the post. As Imran Khan observed he leads from the front and sets an example on the field for his team-mates to emulate.

Miandad, who got his contract renewed by the Council, was happy over the right choice of a key all-rounder as captain. He said the players wanted him which meant that the entire pack would be motivated to give of its best on alien venues, especially in India and latterly in the World Cup, allotted on rota basis to England.

A-match-winning left-hand fast bowler Wasim could not only break through at the start of an innings but come back later to show the reverse swing with the old ball. That was the scourge of the English team but pseudo-experts, questioned the validity of disconcerting trick, though later they could not convince the International Cricket Council about their stance. His speed and penetrative powers could shake any batting lineup.

Wasim Akram is all for the adventure of batting but in difficult moments he could also defy the bowlers with dour grimness. Even in the lower order his contributions is substantial. One can expect a lot from the recalled skipper and hopefully he will come up to the expectations of the fans. He can, with his own example, extract the best out of the chosen set. And perhaps his combination with Miandad, despite reports of some divergencies in views, will help remove the technical problems of the players.

One finds that the selectors are confronted with the herculean task of finding the best possible combination to measure strength with India, having finished their Test engagements against the Kiwis only last week. Their batting is day by day attaining new strength. Only in the series against New Zealand, lost by India, Rahul Dravid scored a century in each innings, a rare distinction for any batsman. Tendulkar and Azharuddin are undaunted by any hazard and are prepared to exhibit audacious batsmanship. The bowling, on the contrary, is more dependent on the medium-pace of Srinath, always toiling with all the energy in him for his team with the new ball and even when the shine has gone from it.

The selectors perhaps, as part of their experiment to give a balanced formation, called as large number of probables as 55 for camp sessions. Their move surprised all and sundry. Khalid Mahmud, PCB chairman, could not help control his reaction and called the probables' group a circus. Certainly he was unhappy. The selection too would have been problematical. The executive council, presided over by Khalid Mahmud, trimmed the number to 23 to ease the job of the selectorial panel.

The camp session is coming to an end with the selectees to be announced. One hopes the list of the mainstream squad is decided without any pressure. It is a different question if the cricket officials and the government functionaries will allow the risky tour of India.

Supposing the tour does not comes off what will be the cricket board's plans? Will it communicate with the Sri Lankan officials for warm-up series to plug the team's loopholes for the World Cup, now only five months away.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)