They just can’t let go of it.
Being one of the ardent worshipers of the game, I just can’t stop myself from thinking about it or feeling sad about it. Its really astonishing how they manage to put themselves in trouble on every single occasion when they go out of their country.
It may be all but natural for me, being an Indian to hate every single aspect about the country named Pakistan, given the state of events in the recent past. But, right now, I’m talking about a wonderful game called Cricket and an amazingly talented side Pakistan. Without any element of doubt in mind, each one of us must/should/will accept the fact Pakistan has produced world class cricketers from time immemorial. They have given the game the best pace bowlers, be it Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed, Shoiab Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul or Mohammed Aamir. I have felt extremely jealous about we struggling so hard to find one such quality pacer. Given the state of affairs in Pakistan, the everlasting political unrest, terrorism, bomb blasts and the recent floods, the last thing they would care about is grooming fast bowlers ( or in general cricketers). Yet, they manage to find atleast one or two real quality players every year.
Right from my childhood, I have had endless discussions with my childhood buddy Varun about how our Indian team would have been had the 1947 India -Pakistan partition had not happened (Inspite of knowing the fact that there are more serious concerns than Cricket between the two nations). I’ve always dreamt of seeing Sachin and Anwar open the innings… longed to see Akram, Waqar, Kumble and Saqlain rip through the opponent batting line up.Yes, we could have been the unbeatables had my dream come true, but that is a topic for a different time.
Right now, I’m deeply saddened by what Pakistan is doing to this wonderful game. They are just putting the entire cricketing fraternity in bad light and making the keen followers of the game quit. Just a few days back, when Pakistan beat England in the last test, the entire nation got united to savour this moment of success in times of extreme misery and pain. The skipper who now finds himself at the spotlight for all wrong reasons, dedicated the victory to all the flood hit people of Pakistan. It was a moment where I just couldn’t stop myself from feeling proud and happy for this team and for this game. It was so heartening to see how a game can unite people in times of pain. But yes, I did forget that, it doesn’t need much time for things to change, especially with respect to a country like Pakistan.
When a 18 year old boy, oozing with so much of talent and has just opened his eyes in international cricket, can go so far, I really don’t have much to say except that they just can’t let go of it.
