Can Pakistan win against India?

At the outset the answer to this question seems to be simple and would be in the affirmative, considering its recent final 3-0 victory on 16 November over West Indies without any considerable international exposure in recent times. Pakistan cricketers left Abu Dhabi on a high with three wins under their belt ahead of the big series against India in January. (For West Indies, it's time for some more introspection before they head out to New Zealand in December. Their coach has said bad domestic matches are the cause for the rout).

For Pakistan the series win has indeed greatly boosted its morale and international prestige. Pakistan's skipper Shoaib Malik said Pakistan's 3-0 whitewash of West Indies in Abu Dhabi has primed them for the upcoming series against India. Malik said, before the start of this series, he had asked the players to play to potential and show commitment and they have done that quite well and he is pleased they have given their best here. "In the second match, the total was small but they knew that they heavily depend on Chris Gayle. We planned to get Gayle out early and did it. We also did well in saving boundaries as planned. We have not played international cricket in a long time, but that hasn't deterred us.

Younis Khan hit 101 and Ifthikar Anjum took 4-59 in Pakistan's 31-run win in the last game, a win which Malik praised as a solid team effort. Younis Khan and Iftikhar Anjum overcame poor starts to give their side yet another series whitewash. While Younis played out an initial difficult spell against the swinging ball to score a century, Anjum got over a Chris Gayle assault to pick up four wickets in four overs and seal Pakistan's 31-run win. Pakistan had ODI clean sweeps against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe earlier in the year, but Captain Shoaib Malik will value this win - Pakistan's first whitewash against major opposition since 2005 - much more.

Malik feels this win would help them clinch the matches against India as well as it is a big boost to our confidence ahead of the series against India." Younis, Man of the Match after his hundred, said India could be beaten. "This is pretty much the same team we played and beat last year. The only difference is they have an aggressive captain in Dhoni. But Dhoni has been very lucky as his changes and decisions have all paid off. His real test will come when luck deserts him."

Pakistan has been starved of international cricket this year with several teams refusing to tour the country due to security reasons. India is scheduled to play three Tests and five ODIs in Pakistan in January and February next year. There are still doubts over the tour due to security worries, but Malik was hopeful of a tough series. "The way India is playing we would need to be at our best and do extra work to beat them," Malik said.

Why a team collapses?

Sport means victory and defeat. But they can be both real and artificial. In cricket, artificiality has taken precedence over reality. Cricket is one of the slow moving matches where any "adjustment" or "fixing" is quite possible on both sides and match-fixing has gained coin exactly because of the lucidity of the match process. Hence the signals could change the course of the matches. Hence the cricket mafia can determine the outcome of the matches. Hence a lot of cash is being put into this sport by multimillionaires and governments could bargain for their trade. Since the players are paid very "handsomely", they generally pay into the mafia hands quite willingly and earn more endorsements and other privileges from the big companies and even governments.

If one thought only Indian and Australia are playing mischief in stead of cricket as a sport of gentlemen, the conclusion one arrives at would be confusing. Though West Indies had lost six wickets and needed more than six an over to win, Gayle was still around. He had just hit Anjum for two sixes in an over that cost 19 runs when Umar Gul came to bowl the 44th over. The fourth ball was pitched fuller and while trying to dig it out, Gayle edged it to the keeper. That theoretically ended the match then and there. This also looks logical.

Not only Indo-Australian but even the Indo-England matches leave much to be desired. Even though anything is possible in cricket, the sudden disappearance of both A Flintoff(43) and K Pietersen(c) (33) in the second Test and "bad light" or the spoilage of the British chances (5o:50) by remote darkness in Test3 should have risen eyebrows among the audience. But the Indians continue to be "innocent". It appeared both Flintoffall and Pietersen suddenly threw away their bats almost together, possiblly on seeing some "red" signal from the fundamentalists of Hindu fanatics indicating certain terror attacks in India. Otherwise their behavior betrays any logic. Finally it becme clear Indian wanted to clinch 3 matches "consecutvley" to match the Pakistan tripple victory agsint West Indies. Indian media and their comentetors cannot pretend to be too naive not to comapprehend this offical Indian tactics.

Allaying fears, India said will go ahead with their tour of Pakistan in January next year, the PCB cleared. Pakistan's status as an international venue has been affected of late by security issues which led to the postponement of the Champions Trophy in September, which has now been rescheduled to September next year. The Indian board's endorsement has come as a huge boost to the PCB after the security problems in the country also forced the postponement of Australia's tour earlier this year. The ICC said Pakistan's status as the venue for the tournament depended on a security assessment that will be conducted during India's tour of three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 from January 13 to February 19.

Last week, the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council offered to host the series if concerns over security persisted in Pakistan. Saleem Altaf, the PCB CEO, had said a neutral venue would be a worst-case scenario and that security arrangements for India's visit were already underway in Pakistan. Pakistan last played a Test in India in December 2007 and the last international series they hosted was the Asia Cup in July this year.

Postscript

Lately, India thinks cricketism is the pride of India plus Hindutva and winning matches at any cost is absolutley necessary to showcase its importance in the region. Like terrorism and nuclearism, cricketism is also in the domain of sort of "superstructure" tactics and it is no more possible to speculate about the course of cricketism by using general rules. It is reather atrocious discussing cricket for the simple reason that the cricket mafia seems to be directing the matches through remote technics. As such commentators discuss only what they see and only guess without revealing what is going on behind the scene. As such some of them are apt in predicting whether a particular batsman would be out soon or not.

But India using terrorism threat and cash is indeed harming cricketing as a sport and making it more of a gambling.

Of course, now-a-days, a lot of attention is being diverted to India by Pakistani media and those Pakistanis, who give interviews to Indian media just praise it beyond the comprehension of even the "only-great India" Indians. This pro-India approach of Pakistan should not be allowed to impinge upon their cricket skills and fortunes on the field as well Pakistan's prestige.

In Pakistan, Pakistan and West Indies seem to have played some real cricket displaying their skills and abilities to their fullest strengths and without any hidden agenda as it is discernible in other cases. With India the picture should not change and neither cricket be used as CBM to appease India to remove the tag of "cross-border-terrorism" from Pakistan's shoulders, nor on Kashmir issue, nor by using plank of terrorist attacks in India if Dhoni's boys are beaten in Pakistan. Pakistan should argue the same in their favour too saying if they lose quick wickets just for fun, there would be terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Perhaps, India could be contained that way also.

Recently times, Indo-Australian joint cricket exercies have made a mockery of cricket as a normal sport. Does it not mean if every thing goes well and "adjustment" or "fixing" is not made,  Pakistan shall win the matches against India as well? Hopefully, India would not back out!

-----------------------

Thank you

Yours Sincerely,

DR.ABDUL RUFF Colachal

Independent Researcher in International Affairs,

South Asia