Cricket Sans Frontiers

CRICKET SANS FRONTIERS
By: Akshay A. Kalbag
‘Cricket sans frontiers’ is an honest attempt to unite the two cricketing powerhouses of the sub–continent, India and Pakistan. The two neighbouring countries are separated only by a man–made border. Both India and Pakistan have a unique blend of traditions and cultures of their own, but the opportunities for the two countries to have any fruitful (and peaceful) exchanges and interactions have been few, because of the strained relations between them that have existed for almost six decades. Cricket is a great leveller, and it will help bridge the gap and unite the people of the two countries, who share a common passion for the sport.
A cricket match between India and Pakistan, be it a Test match or a one–day international, has always been an eagerly anticipated and very exciting event. If the rivalry between the two teams on the field and the frenzied support of the fans of the two teams is intense, the camaraderie between them off it always provides the most interesting details to feature writers and makes for some of the most endearing sights in world cricket. A joint Indo–Pak cricket team may or may not be able to give the world champions, Australia, a run for their money, but they would certainly be a force to reckon with on the international cricket scene.
Modern–day cricket is highly demanding and strenuous, and cricketers have very tough and hectic schedules. They are bogged down by their commitments right through the year, so it is not uncommon for a player to miss a match or a series due to injury. This joint Indo–Pak dream team also has its fair share of injuries to key players. Indian opener Virender Sehwag and off–spinner Harbhajan Singh are nursing injuries to their shoulder and finger respectively, while Pakistani all–rounder Shahid Afridi and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar are suffering from injuries to their rib cage and ankle respectively. Before we embark upon the task of selecting our final fourteen–member squad to represent the joint Indo–Pak dream team, let us begin by commenting on the four players that have been left out of the squad on account of injuries.
Virender Sehwag, nicknamed ‘the Nawab of Najafgarh’, is known to ‘milk’ the bowling and get the ‘Men in Blue’ off to a flying start in both forms of the game. Viru goes after the bowling right from the first ball of the Indian innings, and is doing a fine job of ‘shouldering’ the responsibility of opening the batting for India. To put it poetically, not too long ago, when India’s top order was back in the pavilion, we could not expect the Indian tail to wag, but now the bowlers are (Vi) rendered impotent, thanks to the fireworks at the top of the order by Sehwag. He is also a useful part–time off–spinner to boot, and the captain can bring him on to send down a few overs when a big partnership is threatening to take the game away from his team. He has a safe pair of hands and excellent hand–eye co–ordination as well.
Punjab’s ace off–spinner, Harbhajan Singh, has always been perceived as rebellious and cocky, and has been in the bad books of the establishment ever since he made his international debut. He may not be a Muttiah Muralitharan, but Bhajji’s ‘doosra’ has many opposition batters doing the ‘Bhangra’, as Steve Waugh’s Australians, who toured India in 2001, would readily testify. Harbhajan is known for showing the finger to figures of authority in Indian and international cricket administration on more than once occasion, but his finger is not in good shape to unleash his lethal off–breaks. To add insult to injury, his form in the recent Test series against Pakistan has also been very pedestrian. Indian fans are sing (h) ing har bhajan that they know so that the offie returns to form and regains his fitness.
Bowlers the world over are afraid of Shahid Afridi. The Pakistani all–rounder has been shunted up and down the batting order several times in his career, and slogging is his natural game. Already a senior member of the Pakistani squad, his booming fours and sixes are a source of delight for the crowd and a cause of worry for the opposition captain and his team. The prodigious talent of Afridi was first seen at a game in Nairobi where he hit the fastest hundred in one–day internationals. Nobody dares to ‘rib’ the aggressive youngster about his lack of technique. He is a safe fielder and a partnership–breaking leg–spin bowler as well.
Speed may be Shoaib Akhtar’s forte, but like the aforementioned trio of Messrs. Sehwag, Harbhajan and Afridi, the Pakistani ace of pace also loves to be constantly in the spotlight, whether it be for his deeds on the fields or for his misdemeanours off it. He has had long lay–offs due to injury and could have had several more international appearances for Pakistan, had he kept his penchant for rubbing people the wrong way in check. Shoaib is one of the Pakistani bowlers who fell foul of the International Cricket Council’s rules regarding a suspect bowling action a few years ago, and though he subsequently had his name cleared, the tag of ‘chucker’ is still apparently attached to him and seems to resurface every now and then. Here’s wishing the Pakistani fast bowling spearhead a ‘speedy’ recovery. Until then, it would be good if the ‘Rawalpindi Express’, who is currently derailed because of a fractured ankle, lands a job with a courier company, so that he can continue to deliver the goods at an express pace.
Having said that, these four players are stars in their own right and their tremendous spirit makes the game interesting. The joint Indo–Pak dream team will appear to be incomplete without this quartet of larger–than–life personalities, as each one of them is also a great character and a phenomenal match–winner.
The men who have made it to the final fourteen are: Rahul Dravid (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket–keeper), Irfan Pathan, Mohammed Kaif, Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan (all from India), Kamran Akmal (wicket–keeper), Inzamam ul–Haq, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan (vice–captain) and Mohammed Yousuf (all from Pakistan).
Each of the fourteen players can be critically evaluated as follows:
Rahul Dravid (captain, India): The Bangalorean, known as ‘the Wall’, is also one of Team India’s seniormost cricketers at present. He is one of the most humble cricketers to don the Indian national colours. He also enjoys the respect of his colleagues and opponents alike, because he is able to balance the two roles (leading batsman and captain of the Indian side) well and not get bogged down by the happenings off the field. He has taken over the reins of captaincy when the team was going through a difficult phase, which highlights the fact that he is willing to take responsibility and serve his team in any capacity. Dravid, with his rock–solid defence and sound batting technique, is the ideal batsman to bail his team out of a crisis. He usually bats at number three, which is one of the most important positions in the batting order. A good fielder, Dravid has also kept wicket for India in one–day internationals.
Younis Khan (vice–captain, Pakistan): Younis, who is the vice–captain of the Pakistani cricket team, recently led Pakistan (in the absence of their regular skipper Inzamam ul–Haq) to a famous victory in the third Test against India at Karachi, and has been a thorn in the Indian flesh for a long time with his gritty batting and ability to occupy the crease for a long period of time to play a big innings when the team needs it the most.
Kamran Akmal (wicket–keeper, Pakistan): Akmal is a doughty character who keeps wickets to the fearsome pace attack of Pakistan, and has been in splendid form with the bat throughout the recently–concluded Test series against India.
Sachin Tendulkar (India): No adjective will fully justify the enormous talent that the ‘Master Blaster’ has. He has been on the international scene for over sixteen years, and has broken several batting records along the way, including the maximum number of centuries in both forms of the game. Making a comeback after a long lay–off due to his tennis elbow injury, Tendulkar has recently been under fire from certain sections of the media in India. The critics carped about his performances in the recent Test series against Pakistan and doubted his ability to contribute significantly (read: score a century) to the country’s cause when it mattered the most, but he let his bat do the talking and has silenced them with good knocks in all the three one–day internationals so far. Like the rest of his Indian team–mates, he is still the top celebrity in the country when it comes to endorsing products. When the ‘Bombay Bomber’ is not on the cricket field, he can be seen making appearances in television commercials on every channel, in his avatar as the brand ambassador for every product under the sun, be it colas, cars or tyres.
Shoaib Malik (Pakistan): His bowling action (he is an off–spinner), which is alleged to be suspect, is under intense scrutiny, but the Pakistani all–rounder has proved to be India’s nemesis for a long time with the willow. However, that has not stopped Malik from finding love on the other side of the border (his wife happens to be an Indian.) He has been in great form in the ongoing one–dayers against India.
Inzamam ul–Haq (Pakistan): His running between the wickets is the stuff of legend. Inzy’s nickname ‘aloo’ (potato) was given to him by an Indian supporter. However the burly Pakistani captain was recently criticised for his ignorance of the law, when he admitted that he did not know the rule according to which he was given out obstructing the field during the first one–dayer against India at Peshawar. Despite the controversy he created, he still remains a laid–back character. He is however, worth his weight in gold as far as batting is concerned. One of the all–time greats of world cricket and the ‘Mr. Dependable’ of the Pakistani side, Inzamam does not seem to be affected by any sort of pressure and remains cool even when his team is in trouble.
Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan): Yousuf perfectly epitomises the spirit of ‘cricket sans frontiers’ because of his recent conversion from Christianity to Islam. The elegant Pakistani right–hander, formerly known as Yousuf Youhana, has proved that a change in religion and a change of name do not have any bearing on his stylish batting. He will however have to fight for a place in the overcrowded middle–order of this team, which comprises such names as Rahul Dravid, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik and Inzamam ul–Haq.
Yuvraj Singh (India): The Punjab southpaw was the only player to offer any sort of resistance to the Pakistani pacers (Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq and Mohammed Asif) and scored a ton in the third Test at Karachi, which Pakistan comfortably won. He has developed into a mature and responsible batsman and is an asset to the Indian middle–order. Yuvraj is also one of the best fielders in the Indian side, and is among the quickest runners between the wickets. He is also a useful part–time left–arm spinner.
Mohammed Kaif (India): No Indian fan would have forgotten Kaif’s heroics against England in the NatWest Trophy final at Lord’s in 2002, when he and Yuvraj Singh scored half–centuries to bail India out of a hole and successfully chase the monumental target of 326. The middle–order batsman and brilliant fielder, who hails from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, has not yet cemented his place in the Indian Test side, but he is a regular member of the one–day team.
Abdul Razzaq (Pakistan): One of the three all–rounders in the Pakistani side (besides Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik), Razzaq adds balance to the team because he is a gutsy, hard–hitting batsman who can bat at any position in the batting order and a medium–pace bowler who has the uncanny knack of taking wickets and breaking partnerships. He is another batsman who has enjoyed great success against the Indian bowling attack. He is a safe fielder as well.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket–keeper, India): The Indian wicket–keeper’s popularity across the border has increased, thanks to his knock of 72 in the third one–dayer at the Gaddafi Stadium at Lahore, which India won. The Jharkhand stumper, who will have to compete with his Pakistani counterpart Kamran Akmal for a place in the squad, is a crowd–puller, thanks to his long locks and his ‘dhulaai’ of the bowlers, even when half the team has been dismissed. If you ask the hapless Pakistani bowlers on that eventful night at Lahore, MS (‘The Master of Slog’) Dhoni could very well be associated with the catchy tagline that is associated with soap commercials: ‘Dhoni ne dho daala!’
Irfan Pathan (India): At this point, it would be unwise for the Indian media to label the young Baroda left–arm pace bowler ‘the next Kapil Dev’. India’s new pin–up boy, Irfan has played a few crucial knocks for India in both Tests and one–day internationals, but it is his swing bowling, rather than his batting, that he has to work harder on. He is only 21 years old, and still has a long way to go. If he consistently bowls as well as he is doing now, and also contributes with the bat, besides working hard on his fitness and fielding, there is no stopping Irfan from becoming Team India’s top all–rounder in the years to come.
Anil Kumble (India): The second man to achieve the feat of ten wickets in an innings after Jim Laker, Kumble’s feat was doubly special as it came against arch–rivals Pakistan at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. ‘Jumbo’, as he is known, is the highest wicket–taker for India in Tests. This is no mean feat, considering his detractors often claim that the veteran Indian leg–spinner does not turn the ball as much as other leggies do. His experience will be useful in bolstering the spin attack of this side.
Zaheer Khan (India): Zaheer Khan is the third prong of this joint Indo–Pak dream team’s three–man fast bowling attack, along with Irfan Pathan and Abdul Razzaq. He has been plagued by injuries and poor form in the past couple of seasons, which has seen him miss out on several tours. This tour of Pakistan is the perfect opportunity for Zaheer to regain his rhythm and make his comeback into the Indian team after a long lay–off. The Baroda seamer is one amongst many left–arm bowlers capped by India in the past few years, including Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra and Rudra Pratap Singh.
The sound of the bat hitting the ball will, one day, emerge as the sweetest music to the ears of the people of both India and Pakistan. Let us hope that this joint Indo–Pak dream team helps both the countries realise their dream of living in harmony and enjoying amicable relations.