The CLOSING CHAPTER

          Life of a player starts differently. His interests are different, hobbies are unusual, dedication is a legend, mentor is a sporting super-hero and above all LOVE is the SPORT. Take a glance around the world and you sight will return back unchanged as you won’t find any of these things different among all the sports legends. However, every legend had to pass through his own hardships, own trauma, face his own issues and make some of the hardest sacrifices.

          “I just wanted to play cricket. My (school/college) team was short of wicket-keeper and because I wanted to play cricket I got myself registered as a wicket-keeper for the first time. That’s how I started it. ”

          These words belong to KUMAR SANGAKKARA, the living LEGEND told these during an interview to a TV channel. For young SANAGAKKARA, the only thing that mattered him his life was the sport he loved more than anything i.e. CRICKET.

          Talk about ABDUR RAZZAQ, elders remember him as one of the rarest persons striving in the hottest afternoons in the dazzling grounds of Lahore just to be capped internationally and step onto the biggest stage of cricket.

          Passion forced these great players and their hard work drove them all along to the grand stage and they didn’t disappoint. New chapters of their live were opened. New records were made and history was being written but as it goes, all good things have to come to an end and its best if they do at the right time before turning into ones you tend to hate.

           In the same fashion, their career had to come to an end, but was ending the story so easy. Is the closing chapter so easy as simply writing “THE END”. Such an end about which the writer had never thought of while starting the story, such an end which might be the worst thing he ever imagined, such an end which would make lion-hearts to burst into tears. The writer doesn’t even know will he be the one to put the final stop with his will or it would be the TIMES that decide.

Cricket has been a glamorous world but it doesn’t take long to for the world to change into a scary one. Legends of cricket have only been such persons who have been the bravest, the most skillful and specially the greatest performers when they have been asked to in the hour of need. The world has always been mad for them and had never wanted them to back-off from the mightiest of the stages. Sadly as it goes “Every rise has a fall”. All of a sudden one might have to step back from what it meant their life for them. RETIRING, leaving cricket willingly or unwillingly, it is as sure as death and no one can do anything.

          “Well begun is half done” and “All is well that ends well”, two of the most contradictory yet complimentary statements and it takes a lot of hard-work, covering of hard yards and fortune as well to achieve both and not even a lot of great players have done so successfully.

           Fortune dragged Imran Khan’s retirement from 1987 to 1992 and what an end did he put to his career while leading the underdogs of that era to the top of the ladder where as Michael Clarke’s dedication to country, his team and the 16^th man, as Clarke mentioned himself, Phil Hughes enforced him to end up on the peak of the mountain.

          Still some great players like the Kings of SWING i.e. WAQAR and WASIM were forced to step back due to the circumstances. The 400* runs scorer, Brian Charles Lara, nor the CENTURION of the centuries, Sachin R. Tendulkar, couldn’t even say Good Bye to the world on a high.

Yet some surprise and sudden retirements were thrown from players like Younis Khan, Graeme Swann, Mitchell Johnson etc. decided to leave the game when none of their fans or beloved ones were expecting them to take such a decision.

          However the circle continues. New players combine together to open their books of careers while the elders continue to plan their closing chapters. On the latest grounds, Shane Watson, one of the greatest all-rounders, has announced to retire from the world cricket right after the World T20 currently going in India. Shane has been an integral part of every team he has played in. Call it Australia, Rajasthan Royals, Islamabad United or the defending BBL Champions Sydney Thunde; he has been always making considerable contributions with the bat & bowl. We hope that he ends up his career on a high as did his former ODI and TEST skipper.

          In between, the Pakistani Superstar is also struggling emotionally and mentally to step back from the sport which has made him BOOM BOOM AFRIDI from mere Shahid Khan Afridi. The youngster, as his fans call him, has not only contributed to the Pakistan Cricket but the International Cricket as well by doing what the world saw as impossible. Nobody knows when or even if the world is going to see another character like him. His retirement still remains an unhandled issue but whenever he makes the call, he would have a lot to be proud of whenever he looks back into his past.

          We welcome the new replacements into the Cricket World but we’re surely going to miss them. We wish the retired ones best of luck for whatever they opt for the future but hope that their struggle for the improvement of the CRICKET goes on endlessly.

The UNTOLD TALE!

          Once upon a time, I met a game. She was strange. Her face looked miserable and she looked extremely gloomy from her expressions. I looked at her, in fact gazed her and no sooner did she respond. She understood the question mark in my eyes. Soon she came near me and introduced herself. I asked her name. No response for a while , I repeated my question in an even polite manner. There came the answer “I am the GENTLEMEN’s GAME.”. I got amazed, shocked and even more curious. I requested her to be even clearer. This time she replied “CRICKET!”.

          My memory clicked and no sooner did I take to identify her. I had Goosebumps. In a threshold my passion, my devotion and my love was right in front of me. My curiosity rose to another level. I requested her to tell me something about herself. She kept her lips closed for a long time but after a while the silence broke. She replied “It’s a long misery tale and you won’t have enough in you.” Her dull eyes provoked me and my curiosity forced me to push harder. On my strong emphasis, she agreed to tell me the long, twisty tale.

          “My name is CRICKET and soon after my birth I was recognized as the GENTLEMEN’s GAME, however no-one ever knows that how I came into being.” she said in her dull voice. Uncontrollably, I asked her “How lucky are you? You reside in the heart of over a million people, people love you, stay around and feel blessed to do so. They are proud to be associated with you; as a matter of fact they WORSHIP you.” Before I could go further, she interrupted me and said “I WAS a SPORT. My life’s aim was to give people joys, pleasures, enhance sportsmanship, erase the geographical boundaries between the sporting nations but unfortunately...” she stopped.

          Breaking the silence in the hall, I spoke out “You have given us all those. Why on Earth would you be disappointed in yourself?” She looked at me with a strange manner. That shivered me, and I could not understand what was happening. It was hard for me to absorb that what on EARTH has happened to my love. My body began to shiver in fear if I had said something that I wasn’t supposed to say. I could see tears in her eyes. Finally words came out crumbling from her mouth “My earliest memories remind me of little children, playing with me during the wars and revolts in the days of 19^th Century, for them I used to be a sign of friendship, a source of get-together, a class of teamwork and a lesson of sportsmanship. Those little children made me a symbol of peace in a war-some environment. That was my actual place, in fact the best place I had ever been, inside the children’s hearts, from where I emerged on the national and international level. I was happy, I was mature and I felt blessed that I could convey everything of mine to the big boys, whatever I had to offer in the context of sport, the innovation, the thinking, the even behaviors, the moralities even my complete existence.”

          A silence and then a loud scream hollered the place “BUT WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME?”  My heart came to my mouth. With tears coming out of her eyes, she cried “Just to determine who owns the GAME, they burned my body, turned it into ASHES and what comes worse? The proud owner of the URN rejoices all over the place. Does any gentleman do so? Huh! Those senseless people don’t understand how anybody can be an OWNER of the GAME? And if anybody does so, then why would one burn down his own belonging to marks his ownership? That burn mark is still fresh on my face and hurts every day, every minute, every second.”

          “Those kids embraced me with open arms, they erased the boundaries of cast and creed from their minds, they were just cricket lovers, no SAXONS, no ROMAN CATHOLICS, no MUSLIMS, no HINDUS, no PROTESTANTS, no nothing. They were brothers for each other but what shameful things did the elders do to me? They used me to establish, in fact strengthen the rivalries. I was meant to demolish enmity and lay the basis of brotherhood and harmony but those heartless didn’t even spare me. I was proud to be the messenger of peace but it was always on the cards that the anti-forces won’t bear me. They tried and did so but instead of backing each other in the hours of need, the elders forgot brotherhood, the gentlemen left sportsmanship, they stepped back and sacrificed my love for their evil purposes. They took me away from my beloved ones and my lovers were deprived from their die hard passion. I lived in their hearts and flow in their bloods yet I cannot go to them, embrace them or live with them. ”

          My heart began to fill. It was becoming hard for me to stand by the harsh tale but it wasn’t over yet. It looked like as if she was about to disrupt. I wanted her to pause or STOP. I couldn’t take the heart-breaking tale anymore but my request had pushed me into the damp and now I had to listen until she spoke out to her full ability.

         “People learned nothing from me. When I was juvenile, it was like a new bloomed flower and I always wished that I would be source of honey and fragrance or would die out like a bookmark in a scholar’s book but the HUMAN NATURE used me. Yes! They used me to create money, to earn revenue, to retain the dominance, to prevail the rule. I was meant to provoke and create finances for the struggling nations, it was up to me to create finance but it was the elder’s duty to distribute it evenly for my growth across the world but they just hoarded money for their-selves, they took the lion’s share and pretended to globalize the game. Was that anything that I was meant for? Huh! My eyes watched the nightmare of nations falling but never saw a new nation emerging on the big screen.”

She continued “Does a gentleman converts the gentleness of a game into a threat of a death? Does a gentleman uses my entity, my part, my organ to frighten the batter or does my cricket ball sounds a BULLET to the bowlers with which they try to fire someone? I never wondered that I might be a cause of DEATH of young man. The death of that YOUNG MAN kills me every moment.”

          With all the power left in her frail lungs she shouted “I wish if I were never used for mere entertainment, I wonder if I were never meant for money or finances, I wish if I were never used for a 20 over fun that murdered my originality, I wish if I could remain genuine, a real gentlemen’s game, I wish if I could restore all that what I’ve lost. I wish if I could speak out to the WORLD, loud and clear, For GOD’s sake, for heaven’s sake be a sportsman-spirit holder, be impartial, praise the best and try to be better, help each other in standing along or one day, I would be standing with a head down with shame and embarrassment among all the games in the world. Please globalize me but do not change me. DO NOT CHANGE ME or I will become a body without spirit, an entity without feelings and no sooner will I be no more a sport.”

           Tears constantly poured out her eyes, her face as silent as grave looked at me seeking answers to her questions but I had nothing to answer. I couldn’t do anything to help her.  Silence fell all over the place leaving both of us speechless. I felt most helpless but it was her who needed to be rescued.  

Waqar Younis vs. Waqar Younis

          Pakistan has always been a fertile soil of fast bowlers ever since Pakistan cricket has stepped on the international stage. However, the West Indians, Australians and English bowlers had laid their mark in this department. Seam, swing, bounce and lethal pace are the 4 words that summarize the classical bowling but it was no sooner that Sarfraz Nawaz added a new dimension in the fast bowling’s world. He introduced the world to the art of reverse swing in which the bowl swung in mid-air but entirely opposite to the new ball provided that one side should be rough and the other one was shiny. Sunil Gavaskar admired the invention in these words, “Instead of calling it reverse swing, people should call it that he is Sarfraz-ing the ball.” However the world could not master the trick but the illusion of reverse swing was learned rather quickly by the Pakistanis.

           16^th October, 1989, a young boy, around 20 years of age, with a 99 number on his jersey, steps into the SHARJAH Stadium, with a 99 number on his shirt, in a dramatic clash against the West Indian Giants. The world ad already seen Wasim Akram but they never knew what the Pakistan Cricket had more to offer. The 6 feet tall Pakistani pacer steams in and makes the batsmen smell the leather of the cricket ball. The kid goes wicketless in the first match but an economy of around 3.5 in a full 10 over quota lays a handsome impact. A month later on 16^th Nov, 1989, that boy comes in white outfit against his arch rivals in a test match against India. He rushes in and exploits the art of reverse swing at a dangerous pace of 150+ kph, right into the block hole and takes away 4 wickets in his debut and no sooner the he was famous with the title of “Burewala Express” and the world had recognized him, He was WAQAR YOUNIS. He became the pillar of Pakistan’s bowling attack and the two W’s combination became the most lethal bowling pair around the world.

          Waqar took reverse swing to an entire new level. The world called his swing “Banana Swing”. Initially the world could not absorb the way he was demolishing the stumps. They called him TEMPERER but he was an artist who proved his art every time he stepped into the ground. His reverse swinging Yorkers became famous worldwide. He was unfortunate that he could not be a part of ’92 squad due to an injury but still he had an excellent career. He was unlucky that he could not lift any World Cup for his team yet he had achieved some unbelievable records.

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          He had the highest strike rate before Dale Steyn with for a bowler with 350+ wickets. The seasoned bowler was quickest to 50, 300, 350 and 400 wickets. He is the only bowler to take 3 consecutive 5 wicket hauls. He became the youngest Pakistani Test skipper but at the back end of his career some conflicts with his colleagues, controversies and poor performance in 2003 World Cup forced him to step back from the World Cricket and in April,2004 he played his last match against Zimbabwe and retired from the International Cricket. The speedster took 416 wickets in 262 ODIs and 373 wickets in 87 Tests. His career best for ODIs was 7/36 and 13/135 in TESTS. Crossing the 100 mph mark and lifting the World Cup were the only 2 regrets that he had at the end of his career.

          As a player he was as good as one can imagine but soon he decided to transfer his talent and experience into the country’s youth. In 2006, he was appointed the Pakistani bowling catch but was later dismissed. In 2010 he became the head coach of Pakistan team. People had sky high expectations from the Burewala Express. World Cricket, especially Pakistan Cricket expected him to discover local talent as he was discovered by the Great Imran Khan. It was expected by every Pakistani Cricket lover that the Pakistani bowlers would learn the art of express pace reverse swinging Yorkers and other lines but none of this unfortunately happened.

          The winners of 2009 World T20 were thrashed out from the unbelievable semi-final of 2010 edition of World T20 by the Australian side. Sooner that year, though Pakistan won 2 T20s and 1 Test match, almost after 15 years, against Australia but the ban on Aamir, Asif and Salman Butt banished all the happiness from the Pakistani faces and hence the low morale cost Pakistan 3 losses in 3 series in 3 formats against England in England. This was the time when Waqar’s experience and talent hunting could have come into account but neither any alternative was discovered by the coach nor he refurnished the bowling. Afridi’s tremendous bowling form took the Green Shirts into the semis where the chasing ghost haunted Pakistan and they could not chase down a relative small total of 259 posted by the gigantic batting side of India and Pakistan went back home after a 29 runs defeat from India.

          His controversies or incompatibility was also not hidden from the media. It is also reported that Muhammad Hafeez stepped down from the 2015 World Cup campaign due to his arguments with Waqar Younis. The fact did not either go unnoticed that Waqar did not follow or monitor the local domestic cricket for hunting some talent neither he arranged sessions in order to teach or transfer the aggressive, lethal reverse swinging Yorkers or bouncers as he had been doing throughout his entire cricketing career. He took the time on such defensive mind-set that Pakistan had only chased 300+ runs one in the previous 6 years. What worse could happen that Bangladesh clean sweep Pakistan on their last tour to Bangladesh? Pakistan holds a record of 0-6 against Bangladesh in the past 6 meetings. Despite Test Rankings (Courtesy Misbah-ul-Haq), Pakistan currently stands on its lowest ODI rankings (9^th) in the history of Pakistan Cricket.

          One might wonder if he is the same Waqar who used to frighten the opposition with his outstanding bowling or is he some amateur whose coaching has coaching almost knocked Pakistan out of the Champion’s Trophy 2017. Still he stands a chance to prove himself in the all- important World T20, 2016 standing right in front of him. Let’s see if he can change the plot or not. Can he be a MASTER once again or does end up his coaching being DOMINATED by the world? This remains the question of every Pakistani.