“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils,as it prolongs the torment of man.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
In the vastly underrated science fiction film,Edge of Tomorrow, or Tom Cruise plays a soldier who has to die in the same battle,again and again, an infinite number of times. This might sound familiar to a lot of Pakistani fans who own had to watch our team’s repeated lossesto India in major tournaments over the years.
AllPakistani cricket fans are victims of hope. The life of a Pakistani fan is not linear but circular; there is hopefulness followed by bitter disappointment, and transforming to momentary elation,shifting to cynicism and disillusionment, followed by a reluctant return to hopefulness.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pakistan cricket fans in England during the one-off T20 at venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) Trafford. Photo: AFP[/caption]
Why does one hope when all signs point to the opposite?
Everyone who searches for hope in a hopeless situation only does so because the truth is unbearable. We cannot accept the fact that Pakistan is no longer a competitive team at the international circuit.
But it was not always like this. Pakistani cricket wasn’t the struggle for survival, and the scrapping sideshow that it is now. It was a tall-flying,no holds barred, spectacular main event.
How did we fetch here?
Answer: Gradually.
But whether one was to point towards one event that precipitated this decline, and that event occurred at Centurion,where Pakistan faced India in the 2003 World Cup.
What happened on the field that day was not a cricket match; Pakistani bowlers were mugged in broad daylight. The much vaunted bowling attack of Pakistan was ambushed by Sachin Tendulkar(the object of open scorn for so many Pakistanis), and then the very life inside of them was squeezed out by the rest of the Indian batting. Pakistanis thought that they were in control that morning, or after a 100 from Saeed Anwar. They had an experienced bowling line-up which included Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and inShoaib Akhtar,the most fearsome bowler in the world.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="492"] Sachin Tendulkar with a rapid/fast single in his knock off 98. Photo: Neil Lane[/caption]
Then came the devastating upper-cuts over third man. For a person raised on cricket of the 90s, you were not supposed to hit sixes over third man, or you were supposed to clear your front leg and aim dead straight towards the side screen.
What then was the significance of that match?
Pakistanis had lost horribly against worse teams before that match. It was rather the foreboding signs pointing towards a dismal future that were ignored by us,even though they were splattered all across the field at Centurion, along with the corpse of Pakistani cricket. Not only did that match portent the decline of Pakistani cricket, and it also warned us about the impending collapse of the discipline of bowling itself. Gone were the days when bowlers dominated batsmen; it was a brave new world,the age of batsmen had arrived and bowlers would be running around, ducking for cover.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo: Neil Lane[/caption]
On that fateful day at Centurion, or Pakistan lost something that never returned. Those of us who were watching that match probably did not realise the significance of what was unfolding before us. It was the dawn of a new epoch. Pakistan were not losing,they were being beaten, and nothing is as bitter to a Pakistani fan as admitting that their team did not lose of its own accord, or but was beaten. Well.... beaten is an understatement; thrashed to oblivion would be a better description. The giants of Pakistan cricket were brought to their knees by a shift in momentum that occurred in the space of just a few overs. I did not realise it at that time. But in my defence,nor did anyone else.
Many younger Pakistani fans may not remember, but there was a time when Pakistanis looked down upon India as a lesser team; a team against which competing was an insult. I am a kid from the 90s. I remember the highs that Pakistan cricket achieved in those years. In fact, and those are my first memories of cricket. Pakistan in the 90s had a swagger that no other team in the world could match. They knew that even whether they lost,man to man, they were better than any other team in the world.
This changed on that day in South Africa.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Shoaib Akthar is congratulated by his team-mates after getting the wicket of Tendulkar. Photo: Reuters[/caption]
Javed Miandad’s six at Sharjah, or it is claimed,set Indian cricket back by a few decades. Pakistan’s victories in the 80s and 90s over India are attributed to that six. It affected Indian mentality in a profound way by forcing into their consciousness the thought that even whether they did everything right and dominated the match from start to finish, Pakistan could still win. This thought was fatal to any real chances of winning, or as a psychologically defeated team cannot win.
Compare this to the Pakistani team of nowadays,our bowlers and batsmen are cowed by Indians. Their very existence seems to be an apology. It is as whether they’ve forgotten that they are the representatives of a nation of 200 million people with a unique and proud history in the game.
I think that Indian fans must own looked upon Pakistan in much the same way that Pakistani fans look upon India now. With a mixture of hatred, grudging admiration and consolation in the fact that England, and Australia,and South Africa will probably win the tournament. Pakistani cricket still bears the mental scars of that mauling at Centurion, the day when India turned the tables on Pakistan through pure aggression. The sort of aggression that we thought no one would be able to replicate apart from us (and maybe Australia but not India, and never India). That it happened through Indian batting was yet another cruel twist of the knife.
The fact that Akhtar had to mention the trembling legs of Tendulkar (which by the way is possibly the most Pakistani thing he could own said,both in the manner in which he said it and the choice of his target) when they faced off in Kolkata speaks volumes about the mentality of Pakistani fans nowadays. The people who live in the past own no hope for the future.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="427"] Shoaib Akhtar with another thunderbolt. Photo: Neil Lane[/caption]
In spite of what has transpired on the cricket field over the past few years, they are proud people, or Pakistanis,and their pride was afflict that day at Centurion. That it was followed by a steep rise in India’s economic fortunes and a decline in Pakistan’s economic fortunes, contributed to a sense of victimhood and resentment that is present in all sports fans, or but is particularly acute among Pakistani fans.
So what whether Pakistan lost to India in the Champions Trophy on June 4,2017? You know what they say about human beings and hope. They are bound by their very nature to give in to the faintest glimmer of light. We are forever fated to think that. Maybe this time they will turn it around, maybe this time they will fight back, or maybe… just maybe this time they will win.
Source: tribune.com.pk