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How can we ever know how much a Pakistani fan longed to see England whitewashed in Pakistan? Or a chase in the dusk as dazzling and beautiful as the one that eventually took place in Sharjah and not, say, Faisalabad, Multan? Or Misbah Ul Haq’s 56-ball hundred? Or the sweetness of seeing Australia being whitewashed? Or Misbah doing pushups in the Gaddafi stadium? Or Afridi’s Superman pose at the Rawalpindi stadium? Or Wahab laying into Watson at the National Stadium Karachi? The growth of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq? The return of Amir? Younis? The ascent to No. 1?
What has been the cost of that longing? We’re not sure what it does to us. For some, longing can be what depletes them, because the more they long for something, the further away it seems. How many kids in 2009 longed to see cricket, to become cricketers, only to think cricket was so distant that they longed and longed for it until they stopped?
But for some, longing is fuel. In 2009, one kid longed to be a cricketer. He never went to a stadium to watch an international game, but he watched Steven Smith on TV. He saw Smith’s transformation from an ordinary leg-spinner into one of the world’s best batsman of this era. He longed to be him. He met him in a lift once in Dubai. He became a cricketer and Shadab Khan’s life turned full circle when he finally played his first international match at home on 12th September.
Close to 20,000 security personnel were said to have been deployed on each of the match days, as part of the PCB and Punjab government’s plan, across the routes the teams took, at the stadium and at the team hotel. The majority of that was drawn from local police but the military and various intelligence forces were deeply involved.
The Punjab government’s commitment to providing security was a major factor in the series going off without any serious glitches. PCB officials say the coordination between the local government, the cricket board, and various security agencies was unprecedented, with intensive daily briefings at the board’s headquarters in Gaddafi Stadium.
Shahbaz Sharif, the Punjab chief minister, is said to have taken a personal interest in affairs, sitting in on several conference calls. Underpinning it has been the new Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) body created last year. The PSCA is actually the sell in all this: a radical upgrading of the way crime and terror is fought in the city, and eventually the province.
Ensuring a safe, secure tour is not cheap. Deploying a large security force is a massive strain to the PCB. That is beginning to tell, as revealed by the PCB chairman Najam Sethi earlier this week. Adding to the costs are the payments the board has made to players to convince them to tour. The PCB paid Zimbabwe players $12,500 each to tour in May 2015. In March this year, foreign players were paid up to $50,000 to play in the PSL final in Lahore. For this series, the World XI squad has been paid around $100,000 each. Foreign teams and players will continue to seek financial incentives to visit and at some point, financial reserves not being endless, the PCB will have to draw the line.
The immediate challenge after this successful tour is to stage games outside of Lahore, where all internationals since March 2009 have been held. The PCB is especially keen on going to Karachi. But Karachi has its own, complex set of security issues. It is an unwieldy city too, where the PCB may not expect the degree of support from the Sindh government that it gets from the Punjab government. Still, the PCB intends to press ahead with plans to stage games there during the next PSL.
Coming onto the cricket which was overshadowed by the momentous occasion, this series saw good batting pitches, unlike the PSL final where batsmen struggled to get their timing right. All 3 matches saw some explosive hitting and the crowds returned back content with the quality of cricket that was on offer. Pakistan eventually won the 3 match series 2-1 but the real winner was cricket and the people of Pakistan who turned out in large numbers to support both teams despite the various security checkpoints, some of which required people to walk on foot for around 3 kilometers.
Babar Azam showed a new dimension of his game as he ended the series as the most run getter and scooped up the man of the series award. He scored 179 runs at an average of 59.66 but the more surprising factor was the pace he scored his runs at. Babar, who’s not renowned to be much of a hitter, scored his runs at a staggering strike rate of 147.93. Same was the case with Ahmad Shehzad who came into this series not being in good form but he too ended up scoring 171 runs at an average of 57 runs per innings.
And finally, SHOAIB MALIK. Where has *this* Malik been hiding his entire career? He completely turned the pendulum in Pakistan’s favor in the first match where he scored 38 runs from 19 balls. In the second match too, Malik was at his brilliant best, scoring 32 from 20. In the final match too, he along with Shehzad gave the Pakistani innings the much-needed impetus it needed at the end, scoring 16* runs from 5 balls. All in all, he scored 94 runs in the innings with a strike rate of 188. Ever since Malik made his comeback to the squad in 2015, he’s been in sublime form.
He comes to the crease ready and starts attacking the opposition without wasting any time. His versatility is on another level, as evident in the Providence ODI against West Indies this April, where he not only showed his hitting prowess but also rotated the strike well to score a century on a difficult pitch to guide Pakistan to victory. With the 2019 World Cup scheduled to be held in England, Malik’s guile and experience could prove to be a handful for Pakistan.
Another aspect which stood out during this epoch-making series was the amount of love and respect shown to the Indian team, especially Dhoni and Kohli by the Pakistani crowd. Kohli is undoubtedly the best batsman of this era and he’ll probably break all batting records by the time he retires. In addition to this, his friendships and constant support to Pakistani players make him an instant fan favorite in Pakistan. Kohli is fast becoming the player to this current Pakistani generation what Wasim Akram was to an entire generation of Indian children before us.
When the Indian team toured Pakistan in 2004 and later in 2006, the on-field action paled into the background in comparison with the kind of reception and hospitality Pakistanis, especially the ordinary citizens on the streets bestowed on the Indian team. Shopkeepers refused to take money from the players, people showered the touring team with affection wherever they went and the Indians went back content and satisfied with all that had transpired during the tour.
The partition and the terrible violence that followed the exodus of people from one land to another has scarred the history of the two nations, and they have never been at peace with each other. Cricket, though, has been one bridge of peace that from time to time has been exploited by politicians of the two countries whenever they have felt the need to mend fences. Cricket diplomacy today may have outlived its utility, but be sure that when the need arises, it will be used again as a tool for re-establishing friendly links.
The cricket boards of both the countries need to see sense and separate themselves from their governments. Sports is meant to unite, sports are meant to bridge differences but unfortunately, in India – Pakistan’s case, sports and mainly cricket itself has become a party to all the hostilities and the aggression. The world is witnessing that whenever and wherever India Pakistan clash, over 1.5 billion people literally come to a standstill. A healthy rivalry between India and Pakistan is only good for the sport itself and the ICC’s vision of spreading cricket to other countries can only be accomplished once India Pakistan starts playing bilateral series regularly.
Coming back to the World XI tour, this indeed has been a landmark tour for so many reasons. Thank you, World XI, thank you. It has been an absolute pleasure hosting you. Being deprived of cricket in our backyard for 8 consecutive years hasn’t been easy. The way the crowds have cheered for you in the same way, as they cheer for the Pakistani team, is a testament to how much of a cricket loving nation we are. The world now needs to realize this and here’s to hoping that this tour of yours opens the floodgates for international teams to come here more often.
