Why world cricket needs a strong Pakistan
James Alter in his match review of the Pakistan-South Africa encounter has said it nicely, "It is Pakistan after all." And it is because of this maniacal unpredictability, enigmatic show of brilliance that they are capable of once in a while and the unrivalled natural flair Pakistan players are born with that world cricket needs a strong Pakistan.
Face it - had Pakistan not made the quarter-finals - now they are reasonably sure to go through - ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 would have been the loser. We need Misbah-ul-Haq's team there, to keep opponents on tenterhooks trying to second-guess, which Pakistan will turn up on the day. Will it be the mercurial Shahid Afridi who will lead the charge or will it be the lone-ranging talisman in Misbah who will have a resigned expression at the end of it all? Truth is neither Misbah nor Afridi has a clue to the answer.
Ramiz Raja, distraught and angry at the end of the abject surrender against India, had suggested, "This team just does not have it in them to go the distance. The talent isn't there." Sourav Ganguly even went a step further to say "Except may be Misbah not a single of these Pakistan players would have made the Pakistan team of the middle and late 1990s."
It doesn't matter if they would have made the Pakistan teams of old. As long as they beat South Africa in the manner that they did, it just doesn't matter to the Pakistani cricket fan if these guys are just as good or not. Defending a modest 232 thanks to the few runs added to the Pakistan score by the D/L calculation, the Pakistan bowlers came out charging. Mohammad Irfan's reaction after dismissing Quinton de Kock said it all. It was the day of the spirited Pakistan, not the team that surrendered tamely to India in front of a manic sub-continental crowd.
So, does this Pakistan team have the mettle to go the distance? Can they do what Imran Khan did in 1992, come back from the brink to script history? Do they have it in them to win four cricket matches against top teams on the trot? Or is the victory against South Africa a flash in the pan? Can Misbah continue to inspire a group that many had written off in the aftermath of the defeat against India?
The only thing that can stop Pakistan is their inconsistency. They are consistently inconsistent and there's nothing that Misbah can possibly do to remedy this problem. In fact, that's what adds to their charm. Any team that plays Pakistan will feel they have a chance. On the other hand every top team that plays them will feel they need to be at their best. To play such a team is always a difficult proposition at the knock-out stage of a tournament and hence it is always good to have Pakistan in the mix.
In a competition as important as the World Cup, you need teams with character to make it a success. For example, you need Brazil, Argentina or Germany to do well in football. Each of these teams has pedigree and their very presence makes a difference to the competition. In tennis you need a Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic to make the semi-final of a major. With due respect to Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic and the others, a Federer or a Djokovic or a Nadal is key to the success of men's tennis. The same holds true for Sharapova or Serena Williams for women's tennis. They are all crowd pullers and sport needs such characters to be successful. The Pakistan team is one such. Players like Afridi, Irfan or even Misbah have a bit of an X-factor about them that is so very necessary for cricket and the World Cup.
However, to go back to the original question - can Pakistan go the distance? Do they have the talent to beat New Zealand, Australia or India for that matter? The answer is sure they do. But can they do it? The answer is we don't know and more importantly not a single Pakistan player including Misbah will have a definitive answer to this question. To go back to Jamie Alter's match report, "It is Pakistan after all."
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