The
Cricket Column
Gen
(Retd) Tauqir Zia Should Also Play in Pak Team
By
Zafar Altaf
PAKISTAN
has a great chance for a record. That is if (now Retired) General
Tauqir Zia chooses to play against Bangladesh and joins his son.
The team is already a mom and dad team. There are fathers as well
as surrogate mothers.
What
do I mean? The last test against BD was a compromise and players
made to sit out for the favorites to play and justify their selections.
The only problem in cricket is that if you make willful mistakes
you will pay for them sooner or later.
Cricket
is a great leveler. It smothers all kinds of arrogance. Junaid
Zia has done it for Pakistan and the faith of, not only the father,
but also the selectors, has been justified. Now there are so many
fathers who seek the same treatment for their sons but will not
get it because they are not in the PCB and not its President either.
But
the other day I heard a tremendous aspect of equity claimed by
the rich and the powerful. "The rich and the powerful should
be given the same treatment as the poor." That seems to be
the going thing in Pakistan. How about giving the same conditions
and treatment to the poor when it comes to other aspects of life?
The
PCB morons are making all sorts of noises to justify their position
in the board. The economic opportunities are so limited that there
is no way that these people are going to give up a cushy salary.
What does it matter if they become spineless in the process? They
are getting a fat salary at the very least.
And
the bullies have a way with them. If you do not get along with
them then you are their enemy. How dare you voice dissent? That
is what Andy Flower of Zimbabwe said about his cricket mates and
one of them happened to be his brother. So you have cricketers
who have become servile and are now serving the game as henchmen
of people that are in power.
The
second one dayer was good for the selectors for Junaid justified
his selection by taking three wickets in the space of 2 overs,
the first two having gone for 16 runs. Now is that not great cricket.
The last three wickets to fall were the tail end and Junaid justified
his selection and no doubt he will do so in the matches against
South Africa and against New Zealand and when they go to Australia
please see that he is on board.
That
is the only way that the PCB can die a natural death. Now that
the National Assembly of Pakistan has taken upon itself to check
the records and the doings of the board they need to assess how
well this team is prepared for the World Cup.
The
great sage, Haroon Rashid, the manager who counted all the silver
linings in the World Cup along with Miandad, stated that Rashid
Latif is no cheat. He should have defended Rashid in front of
the match referee Mike Procter. But Mike Procter is a fool for
not listening to Rashid Latif and to Haroon Rashid. It is a wonder
that both of them did not suggest something more grandiose for
Mike and asked him to be recalled.
What
was the reason for not accepting the decision of the match referee
I would not know? The brass that sits over in the PCB may have
demanded some explanation for him. It is like a goon, who is caught
in the act and then keeps on telling others that the fault lies
elsewhere.
But
one Saadat and Bashir Mian went as manager and coach respectively
to Dubai with the team where Rashid happened to be the captain
of the team. His captaincy qualifications nearly got the team
to spend some time in the jug in that country. But we are what
we are; self justified and not bothered about the consequences
or world opinion. They are all rustic.
If
this is going to be what it is then where does one go with the
good news that this country provided to all from the field of
sports. I recall that in 1991 Pakistan had four world championships
to gloat about - Cricket, Hockey, Squash and Billiards. To day
with all the loud claims where are we?
The
management of the team is a thing apart. It is in the area of
games that spirit and tenacity is built up. We have done no one
any service by what is happening. Will this kind of work give
you inning teams? Will this kind of happening not defeat the country
and develop a defeatist mentality? Tennis is gone, Badminton is
not heard off, football is footed now.
When
I used to meet my friend Dr. Ghulam Rasool I used to tell him
that he plays the game with a crooked stick while cricketers play
it with a straight bat. The pun went well and defended the game
of cricket. The straight bat has been overtaken by a crooked mind.
The
beneficiaries have been so many and so well looked after that
they are vary of losing the goodies. It is a shameful act that
they have put on. I am not surprised for the culture is such.
The other day I met some one who had been OSD for almost three
years and he had just landed a lucrative job. He was not willing
to put his spine there where it mattered.
There
have been occasions when one remembered Brig. Rodham the first
director of the Pakistan Sports Board. Some of the people were
his understudy and I wish they had followed some of his instructions
and taken guidance on how to perform before authority. But that
and all that was lost. There were actual occasions when the bosses
went on foreign junkets and some of these understudies made it
possible for them to make whatever they could with the resources
of the board.
There
were good times on the board and I think that the traditions left
by Skipper Kardar should be followed. Any one having a son who
can participate in the game of cricket should not have anything
to do with the affairs of the game. There is bound to be conflict
of interest. But such traditions in material times are unfounded.
When
I was made the Secretary of the Board, Kardar questioned me on
how my family was and was relieved when he learnt that there was
no youngster aiming to be a cricketer. National morality is based
on the morality that is determined by the team.
Rashid’s
catch was not a catch in real terms. If a person who cannot self
deny in sports how will he deny himself unwanted gains in life.
False in little things false in big things is a jurisprudence
concept, Mike Procter or no Mike Procter. Haroon Rashid had better
behave himself. He himself rode the strengths of his relatives
so what can you expect.
Meanwhile the PCB may do well to really understand the questions
that the National Assembly puts to them. It might just be that
they may be arraigned for telling lies and find themselves in
criminal breach of trust. In fact I am going to suggest this to
the guardians of this nation, the elected representatives, to
take note of the habit that is coming in the institutions to hide
the truth. To answer questions in a dilatory manner and to seek
to hide the truth.
Why
for instance has the board not been able to release the use of
funds? What is so secretive about it? Life is much more than convenience.
Do try and be inconvenient on purpose once in a while. Do not
live on the moneys that the boys have earned and whom you have
abused in your reply to the National Assembly.
Meantime
do the Bangladeshis in for are they not the No.1 team of this
world? Junaid Zia and General (Retired) Tauqir Zia should be in
the team. That would be a world record that will last. Even with
them Pakistan will beat BD black and blue.
The
writer has been Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board, Secretary of
the Board, Manager Pakistan Cricket Team and Chairman of Selection Committee
