The Pakistani Spectator

Everyone in Pakistan and we in USA are glued to Geo Super and watching domestic RBS T20 cup  and after some very very perplexing round matches which were beyond my comprehension, Faisalabad Wolves led by Misbah ul Haq and Sialkot Stallions led by Shoaib Malik are in the finals. Let me appreciate the domestic tournament committee led by some wizard in PCB who decided to hold the tournament after announcement of  preliminary 30 probables just to make sure that anybody showing performance in this tournament is not considered for world cup T20 being held in West Indies. This was necessary to make sure that all favorites remain in the team and no unwanted person is allowed gate crashing by showing some outstanding performance. We need to preserve this system of team selection very badly for continuity otherwise some stupid players can spoil the future of some settled Khalifas in the team.

Our First Class structure is based purely on favoritism, money and merit. This is a triangle for any player aspiring to get into a Region’s team as federations are controlled by some khalifa like Dr.Muhammad Ali Shah, Siraj ul Islam Bukhari, Munir Hussain, Shakil Sheikh, Aamir Hayat Rokhri, Mian Munir or some wadera like Mir Haider Talpur and they are serving the game since it started in Pakistan and shall continue through their next generations. If you are lucky enough and get into region’s team then you need some financial stability after showing performances at regional level and there is next level of Khalifas in departments like Muhammad brothers, Miandads,Ranas and  journalists and selectors in these departments who may include you in the department on contract. Then there are some khalifa players who wont allow you to play any match and you will either become Muhammad Irshad or Yasir Ali.

If you have closely watched RBS 20-20, you might have observed the glare match fixing involved in this tournament. The regional teams like Rawalpindi Rams, Multan Tigers, Lahore Eagles were forced to exit the tournament through blatant umpiring decisions and visible pressure on the teams just to please the Karachi politicians and one faction of the society who have already hijacked at least two cities and now the game of cricket. None of the Karachi teams deserved to be in the semi final but Karachi dolphins led by Muhammad Sami was forcefully sent to semi finals by pressurizing Lahore Eagles to throw the match which they did in such an ugly manner (bad acting on their behalf) that everyone watching the match became fully aware of this drama. Karachi Team was supposed to win the semi final as well but Sialkot Stallion refused to budge and won the match against all the odds which included a letter from Karachi Zebras blaming Rana Naved of ball tempering, outclass umpiring by Akram Raza and Nadeem Ghouri and top of all excellent Karachi crowd which threw everything on them including bricks to deprive them of finalist position. Although Sialkot Stallions were lucky to be in semi final in the first place and due to bad umpiring the Rawalpindi Rams were forced to lose the match like Multan were forced to lose against Lahore Lions. The way Karachi dolphins behaved in the match was so upsetting for me. Nobody cared to come close to Imran Nazir when he was hit in the groin area and was lying on the ground. Only 4-5 players came to ground to shake hands with Sialkot Stallions players and in the post match ceremony Afridi openly criticized his own team and coach. Sialkot captain Shoaib Malik was forced to request on television that stone throwing was very disturbing for his team which was also a team from Pakistan. He stopped short of saying that it was like playing in Mumbai instead of Karachi. May be for next edition of RBC Punjab teams  may have to either hire security agency with them or get special protection from ……bhai loag for playing into National Stadium. Why the Karachi players and teams play fair cricket and walk into the side through merit which I am sure is abundant in Karachi. They have some of the finest talent but why they always try to do everything from back door. If they are not physically fit enough to compete, they have excellent brains and they can compete through excellent planning and team effort.

I think I am done with cricket now as I had already expressed my feelings in my previous blog titled “Long Live Pakistan Cricket” but I never knew that more bad things are still in the pipeline and we have to witness some more dramas. Why we are holding this T20 tournament when probables for T20 world cup have already been announced, when performances of this tournament won’t count, when matches are fixed, and even umpiring is fixed.

The most disturbing area for me is TV coverage of this tournament and I must admit that for the first time I have listened and watched some of the worst cricket commentary and statements from Pakistan’s First sports channel Geo Super which failed miserably in keeping itself  neutral and continuous hate and sarcasm was yelled by Mirza Iqbal Baig and Co. on the audience. The commentary team was equipped by poor pronunciation, lack of knowledge about players, the game of cricket, basic broadcasting ethics and were fully responsible in creating an atmosphere of hatred and disharmony in the nation. Mirza Iqbal Baig should be banned from broadcasting on any television for his insults continuously thrown on players and display of his own wizard-ism by talking totally unnecessary and irrelevant history. He is in the habit of inviting players to his program “Bolain Kya Baat hay” and insult them but this time he was openly favoring Karachi teams and throwing mud and every kind of shit on players from other teams. Geo Super needs to understand the responsibilities attached to Pakistan’s First Sports Channel. Geo Network does not belong to any faction or section of the society or any province or language and is responsible to carefully select the anchors, commentators and producers to keep the neutrality in their broadcasting. While I appreciate the great work they have done in covering the domestic tournaments and keeping a close eye on the mismanagement of various associations and bodies of the games in country but I don’t preclude them from their responsibilities.

Similarly Pakistan Cricket Bored (Board) has done enough destruction of the game and should stop it now. I fully endorse the idea of completely overhauling the infrastructure of all games in the country and form the associations through elections and bring in the professional management people to run the affairs. We have already nailed the coffin of hockey today and are doing same with cricket  ,squash,football,boxing and other sports. Please remember without sports and culture we will produce a generation of extremists, terrorists, exploiters and looters. I just beg of the responsible people to stop playing game withe games.