A steward tackles a pitch invader at the end of the Afghanistan-Pakistan game at Leeds. (Photo: Reuters)Gulbadin Naib likes flexing his muscles and posing like a body-builder (Mr Logar or whatever) after he gets his wickets. All macho swagger. We all know. But his bowling is less macho though. It’s a mess of misplaced intentions—yorkers that end up as floaty full-tosses, bouncers that provide batsmen enough time to sip a cup of coffee and still smear it over midwicket, cutters that seldom cut. But his bluster had to be appreciated—and the overwhelming confidence (stupidity) at his death-bowling skills. His willingness to take the death-over responsibility is appreciable but his lack of self-awareness is deplorable.
But equally deplorable has been his tendency to pass the blame onto his teammates and destiny. Sample his excuse after the defeat to Pakistan, in which he had no less a role to play. “If Hamid (Hassan) was there at the end, we could have fought and kept the pressure. The main turning point was losing him, he bowled two overs and then had to go off. That was a key point. If Hamid was there maybe I didn’t bowl more than three or four overs because I do not have enough speed for this kind of surface.” Only that Hamid has bowled only 26 overs in this World Cup, seldom at the death. If any, he’s only a marginal upgrade on him. And it’s not as if Naib is a reluctant bowler. Along with Mohammad Nabi, he has bowled the most number of overs for Afghanistan in this World Cup (62.4). Earlier, he had blamed fielding for the Bangladesh defeat and the lack of batting firepower for the India one. This inclination to pinpoint blame on players had led to dressing room unease in the past, with rumours swirling around that Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi didn’t like it when Gulbadin replaced Asghar Afghan as captain.
Whatever, the 42 runs he conceded in three overs against Pakistan at the death, was heavily trolled and became a meme magnet. Michael Vaughan was so lost for words that he kept it minimalistic with a series of tweets, which began with “Bollock!”, “Gulbadin!!!!!!! wft?” and “It’s happening”. Tim Wigmore, the cricket writer, made a scathing reminder of the captaincy change: “Afghanistan sacking Afghan, their captain for 4 years, and replacing him with Gulbadin on the brink of the World Cup, was remarkable. That’s the sadness of Afghanistan’s World Cup campaign: politics has dragged the team down, and they’re performing under themselves.” But the cricketing ones were still digestible, but there was a deluge of bitter ones, like a Pakistani fan, saying: “He was just showing the salt of loyalty”. Another had photoshopped his wiki profile, changing his birth of place to “Lahore”. Captaincy, Naib might be feeling now, is a thorny crown.
****
Putting ‘3 wkt loss to Pak’ into perspective
No 140 character blitz/min, just 140 words of what happened at cricket somewhere far away. You’d expect a thriller like Pakistan-Afghanistan to get a tweet-a-minute – lots of inane updates like in India that’s drunk on the sport, or snarky wry wit like in Pakistan that’s drowned in despondency and dizzy at their charmed life in the tournament. But it’s been critically busy the last three days back in Afghanistan, and a tragically morbid news-scroll of the Khaama Press, rushes past on either side of the 140-word brief cricket news. Afghanistan’s largest online news service, the country’s most popular website, starts with, “The Pakistan cricket team narrowly defeated Afghanistan in a thrilling world cup, thanks to an expensive over bowled by the Afghan skipper during the final overs of the match.” After a skeletal descriptor of the score, “Pakistan managed to defeat Afghanistan by 3 wickets and 2 balls remaining,” it scrunches into two lines, the frustrating Gulbadin Naib over: “Naib gave staggering 18 runs while bowling his 8th over, helping the Pakistani batsmen to recover from immense pressure.
“The bowling by Naib sent shockwaves among the spectators and the Afghan fans with majority demanding his removal and ban from cricket.”
The country’s definition of national tragedies is obviously different and there’s real battles being fought. Check the headlines: ‘Special forces kill 13 militants,’ ‘4 car bombs detonate in Kandahar,’ ‘Taliban lose 25 fighters,’ ‘airstrikes kill 45 in Balkh’, ‘22 airstrikes in 24 hours’, ‘27 civilians killed in Baghlan’….. ‘Afghanistan narrowly loses World Cup match against Pakistan,’ comes next.
Earlier, Taliban’s IED expert has been blown up by an own bomb in Jawzjan province, 40 members of public uprising forces have been killed, Special Forces kill 7, detain 2 others in Paktiya, Farah and Herat, a shadow spy chief for 5 provinces and his 3 foreign comrades are killed in Logar, roadside bombs and house-borne IED destroyed in Kapisa and Wardak, and notorious irresponsible armed commander Aalim alias ‘The Sledgehammer’ was arrested in Kabul. Besides presidential appointments, the rare happy news comes from a trade mission delegation visiting Mumbai and netting $123 million in contracts for Afghan agricultural exports.
While fruit led the way with $56 million in deals, according to Khaama, pistachios and almonds, saffron, other spices, juices and honey were also on the list. While India’s provided Afghans a ‘home ground’ for their Tests and assorted other cricket paraphernalia, India owes singularly the most important sizzle spice to Afghanistan: Hing (asafoetida) is a thing. And it’s a cool $43 million in deals. There’s more to life than sitting moping over a 3-wicket loss at Leeds.
****
Doctor (Not). Imad Wasim
Sameena Peerzada does in Pakistan, what Simi Garewal would dabble at in India – prise open answers to posers as varied as what a cricketer thinks of success, happiness, worldly possessions, and even the meaning of death. Pakistan’s hero in the thriller against Pakistan, Imad Wasim was on the couch of her talk show a few months ago. Describing how he was a good student and fancied a career in medicine before the cricket bug bit him, Imad explains, “It’s not in my nature to sit in one place. I’d never have been a good doctor. Cricket is different, it’s a tough thing – more (leaning) towards pressure. My only thing was if by age of 35-40 if I am alive, I don’t want regrets. Now I’m living my dream,” he said.
The Wales-born cricketer (his father moved from Saudi to Wales and back to Pakistan when he was 2), Imad showed the usual afflictions – he slept with his bat, recalls being inspired by the 1992 Cup winning team, played cricket with his sister first and then much older boys of the neighbourhood, sneaking away after the Asr Azaan (5 pm) to a club. Finding the hard ball heavier than the tennis ball, he switched from pace to spin, and first came to notice picked by Aamer Sohail – the only international whose autograph he sought, before realising he’d rather sign them himself. There was also the sub-continental tragedy that unites India and Pakistan in cricket, for the member of the 2006 Junior WC winning team led by Sarfaraz. “Yahape age bhi kum karvaa dete hai, but I never did that. My birth certificate is from England, so you can’t change it. Baaki daadhi waale ladke aaye the trials pe,” he states.
Peerzada also got him talking about his ‘most eligible bachelor of Pakistan’ tag. Imad said, “Everyone in Pakistan keeps asking me about my marriage. There’s no time for love…and in our culture, we can’t travel with girlfriends. Sometimes after a bad match, we just throw our phones off for 2-3 days,” he explains the practical difficulties of dating. But he insists – and Peerzada agrees – on his suitable credentials, since he can whip up a meal for himself. “Kofte? Easy. Biryani? Easy. I can make it all. Ask me about something difficult, maybe a lasagne,” he laughs.
****
Naib cops more
“I don’t know what to call it, dumbness, egocentricity or fixing! How can you do that to your own country?” a tweet asked. Another post mentioned his place of birth as Lahore, while it’s actually Puli Alam, Logar, Afghanistan. Some called him a Pakistani spy.
It was always on the cards. Pakistani and Afghan fans had clashed at Leeds earlier in the day, and when Gulbadin Naib, more or less, handed the match on a platter to Pakistan, Twitter didn’t have to search too hard for a villain.
When the Afghan captain brought himself on in the 46th over of the chase, Pakistan needed 46 runs off 30 balls, after having very little clue about what the opposition spinners were bowling. If he so wanted, all the remaining overs could have been bowled by spin. Naib conceded 18 in that over and Pakistan were again favourites.
With six needed off the last over, Samiullah Shinwari (8-0-32-0) was available, but Naib again trusted himself. Apart from bowling a few full-tosses, he also botched a run-out opportunity, giving away an extra run as Pakistan reached home with two ball to spare.
Given the high emotions invested in the game, it was always expected that apart from Naib’s cricketing and tactical acumen, Naib’s loyalties would also be questioned. Relations with Pakistan are a touchy subject in Afghanistan, and one of the alleged reasons for Mohammad Shahzad being sent home in the middle of the tournament was the perception that he didn’t always give his best against Pakistan.
On the other hands, Pakistan fans, who were on the receiving end of some Afghan blows in the morning, could see the funny side of it. While earlier in the day, the tone of their tweets focused on Afghans’ alleged ingratitude despite Pakistan providing them refuge from their own war-torn country, Naib’s decisions and actions prompted them to mention that ‘not all Afghans are so’.
“Gulbadin Naib. Remember the name. He did it for #Pakistan single handedly. Thank you bro,” tweeted a user .”Everyone is appreciating Imad and Wahab Riaz for their performances but no one is admiring the real hero ie !! …Gulbadin…!! Thank You! (sic),” tweeted another person with a handle too long to mention.
