With 2013 fading into history, a new year is upon us – bringing along its own challenges and opportunities. And like always it is customary to reflect on the year that has gone by and ponder about the possibilities in the one which has just dawned. As far as Pakistan sports go, almost the entire year in a variety of sports hovered between listless to downright bleak – with just snooker being the honourable exception, though Misbah-ul-Haq’s Team Pakistan, with the infusion of fresh blood, the captain sustaining his form and some oldies finding a fresh wind, looked at its best around the fag end, thus holding the promise for 2014.
But in our other two premier sports, hockey and squash, the gloom seems to have set in with scant hope for a quick bounce back.
In tennis, Aisam ul Haq remained our lone ranger on the world circuit, but compared to the recent years, perhaps because of his Dutch doubles partner Jean-Julien Rojer being off kelter, he too didn’t look the part.
That was then: The glory days
With the momentum coming from the sporting culture relentlessly promoted by the Raj, post-Independence Pakistan emerged as a pretty decent all-round sporting nation – with its athletes making waves at the Asian and the Commonwealth Games. The Olympic Games though were beyond the reach of their caliber even then. But by the mid 1970s, the all-round sporting excellence had for a very large part withered away. Even then in a number of disciplines, Pakistan set the benchmark at the global level. Hockey, squash and cricket were the games in which Pakistan was not just good but either at par or much superior to its competitors at world level. This sadly is no longer the case.
Looking back one finds that in at least these sports, Pakistan was superbly managed. That was why our boys not only stood out on the field, Pakistan actually was a land of ideas and innovation – making a great contribution at the world level.
As the country was coming apart in 1971, Pakistan hockey reigned supreme in the continent and in the world. With top of the podium finishes at the Olympic Games at Mexico in 1968 and the Asian Games at Bangkok in 1970, the boys in green completed the first-ever Golden Grand Slam by ending up on top in the inaugural 1971 World Cup at Barcelona. And whose idea was this World Cup? Air Marshal (Retd) Nur Khan of Pakistan, who not just floated the idea, but got it approved from the FIH, with the promise that he would not only gift the trophy but also host the first event. With the country engulfed in civil war in what was then East Pakistan, the last of his pledges remained unfulfilled as the event was moved to Barcelona – yet glory was not to be denied the greenshirts.
But that was not by far the last of Nur Khan and Pakistan’s contributions, for we went on to offer the Champions Trophy to the world, and this we nurtured as a fledgling until it became the premier annual event on the hockey circuit. Post 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games title, we have won just one world event – the 1994 World Cup at Sydney with our last really global star quality forward Shahbaz Senior leading the outfit.
For the hockey World Cup 2014, Pakistan did not even qualify – an ignominious first, coming on the back of its bottom finish in the last edition.
In squash in the 1970s, while Geoff Hunt was rarely removed from top of the pole in world standings, but of the next 20, Pakistan had a plethora of talent always giving him a run for his money – until Jahangir Khan’s advent. From then on, till 1998 with JK Mark II, Jansher Khan, picking up the baton Pakistan rarely if ever lost the World or British Open crowns.
Since then we have won none.
Another point to note: in the mid 1970s, the PTV had become the first television channel in the world to telecast squash – then considered impossible!
In cricket, with Pakistan and Imran Khan on a crest that landed us many a famous triumph culminating at the acme in the 1992 World Cup, the country became the joint hosts of the 1987 World Cup with India – the first instance of the global event snatched from the mother country. And Pakistan’s voice had a power of its own in the ICC. The Asian Cricket Council was formed in the mid 1980s, signaling a shift of the power base from the white nations, and offshore cricket had already commenced with Sharjah becoming the first resort in 1980-81. Pakistan again took the lead in pitching the idea of neutral umpires and match referees – the officials without whom one cannot contemplate any international game now.
Such was the inventiveness of our clutch of fast bowlers from late 1970s onward that reverse-swing was introduced to world cricket, with Pakistanis initially blamed for underhand tactics followed by admiration and acknowledgement that was given grudgingly but most flatteringly by imitating them. Javed Miandad meanwhile had made switch-hit fashionable. And Abdul Qadir made his most telling contribution in lifting leg-spin from its bootstraps, reviving it from the dying art that it was then with his spellbinding magician’s craft, while Saqlain Mushtaq in his stint introduced the doosra – the one that goes the other way. Muthiah Muralitharan, himself a mean and dreaded practitioner of off-spin who ended up planting himself on top as the highest wicket-taker, copied him without a trace of embarrassment. And now Saeed Ajmal plies the trade with such aplomb to the dismay of the best batsmen in the world.
And here we are now: A dismal story of self-inflicted wounds
Those fountainheads dried up. The downward slide in hockey was obvious by the double debacle in 1986 when Pakistan lost its Asian and World crown within the space of a fortnight – ending at 11th spot out of 12 ahead of India. That was a steep fall, but there was a resurgence of sorts in the late 1980s to mid 1990s through a bunch of plucky players with the lead provided by the last of the true greats of the game churned out by this country, Shahbaz Senior – drag-flick expert Sohail Abbas being an exception.
Pakistan hockey has remained a very pale shadow of its glorious past, because it has been grossly mismanaged for decades. In 2013, Pakistan not only failed to win anything other than an overrated Asian Champions Trophy gold where no team was at full strength but lost out for the first time the opportunity to compete in a World Cup – what a fall for four-time champions!
The prospects of recovery remain bleak. Elected for the next four-years in ‘elections’ that have sham written all over it, Akhtar Rasool replaced Qasim Zia’s inglorious four years in office as president of the PHF. Akhtar was previously president between 1997 to 1999 – the Musharraf coup dealing the death knell to it. Subsequently he has never been out of the frame, having alternatively enjoyed his perks as chief selector, chief manager/chief coach etc. throughout without much of a break. He is thus part of the problem, and certainly by no means part of the solution. Prospects for 2014 and beyond? Most likely, further embarrassment. With the way things are, Pakistan may not even remain competitive at the Asian level!
When JK Mark I and II were still active on the circuit, it was obvious from the talent in the wings that the cupboard was more or less bare. January 1998: the last time Jansher Khan was at the pinnacle in world rankings. Fast forward 2013: Pakistan’s topmost Amir Atlas Khan, Yasir Butt, Farhan Mahboob and a few others are all languishing somewhere below 30 to sub-100 level. They may not have achieved much but Amir won the Asian individual title in 2013, on the back of continental team championship in 2012, while Syed Ali Mujtaba Bokhari followed it up with the Junior Asian gold. Not much hope of a steep climb in global reckoning, owing but not entirely to the tribal feuds between past champions, but Pakistan shall remain a force in Asia.
It is cricket – the most passionately followed to the exclusion of all other games, and participated by the largest number of men and women in structured and unstructured form –where hope burns bright. Cricket has not been any less mismanaged, especially post 2006 when Shahryar M. Khan was removed as the PCB chairman. And because of it, it has been mostly mired in one controversy after another. The latest, supposedly caretaker
With the infusion of fresh blood, Sohaib Maqsood in the middle order and Sharjeel Khan at the top, along with Ahmed Shahzad and Mohammad Hafeez hitting form, with Umar Gul returning from a longish layoff owing to injury and Ajmal going as strong and as unplayable as ever, Pakistan seemed to be in good nick. After having been hounded by South Africa in its own backyard in all three format early in the year and then at in its own (home?) rubber in the UAE, Pakistan went back for a short tour and beat the Proteas in the one-day rubber. Subsequently, against Sri Lanka too it displayed panache and at the time of writing was shaping up to win the one-day series.
Appointment of Misbah for the long term, up till the 2015 World Cup, killed the incessant speculation on who was going to get the job next (one good thing done by Najam Sethi as Acting/Caretaker chairman) and the sagging fortunes of Team Pakistan were turned around. Long in the tooth at 40, Misbah though is worth his weight, having totted up the highest number of runs by anybody in ODI cricket in 2013.
Forecast for 2014? Promising. Especially with the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2014 commencing in mid-March in Bangladesh, where it is expected to be on top of the list for all opponents as the team to beat. But what is this speculation about the greenshirts abstaining if the event takes place in Bangladesh, where anti-Pakistan sentiment is all the rage these days? One can only advise: come off it, PCB. Ask for top of the line security, ensure the ICC makes the pledge, and take the plunge.
The writer is a journalist based in Lahore.
