Pak Tea House » Cricket » Well played India and Thank You Pakistan Cricket Team
Well played India and Thank You Pakistan Cricket Team
Raza Habib Raja
I was 18 when Imran Khan, one of the most famous cricketers our country has produced, lifted the World Cup. In the room of my house where all of us were watching the match, some of the family members burst into tears. I felt euphoric and went outside to the nearby liberty market to witness what was unimaginable level of fervor and joy. People were dancing and performing Bhangra. The streets which had been almost deserted during the match, as everyone was in front of the TV sets, had suddenly become overwhelmingly alive. For those brief moments, from Karachi to mountainous area of Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan had become one. Everyone was cheering and there was an overarching feeling of unity. Those scenes have become imprinted in memory and in fact whenever we feel low, we try to recall those moments to assure ourselves that we have the potential and can do it again.
The way this cricket team played during the tournament only increased the expectations. The team, which had been marred by several disgraceful scandals and therefore completely written off before the tournament began, started to play dazzling cricket under their mercurial all rounder captain Shahid Afridi. With every victory the level of expectation increased and when it became evident, that Pakistan would be playing their arch rivals India, it transcended the domain of normality.
Now with this defeat, to some extent the sapping of joy is understandable. We do have the tendency to expect a lot from cricketers. It is one sport which is so deeply rooted in the national psyche. And everything which happens on the cricket field affects the national mood. After the defeat when I went out, virtually the streets were deserted and there was a dominant feeling of despair.
We are a nation desperately starved of good news and have a tendency to elevate a thing to humongous proportions in terms of expectations when there is a sniff. But more than expectation, we tend to simply assume that sniff of victory will always materialize in victory and that victory will inturn help us in other myriad problems.
This kind of attitude needs to change because it is ok to love cricket but there is a difference between loving it and elevating the performance of cricket team to a matter of national honour.
There is line which we have tendency to overstep and in doing so may fail to appreciate how good this team has played during its bid for the World Cup. For one month this team performed against the odds and played spectacular cricket. Performance was at times sloppy, at times ill disciplined and most of the time uncoordinated brilliance punctuated with typical unpredictability.
Sometimes I wish we were more disciplined but then Pakistani team is so exciting without it!
This team, more than any other team surprised everyone, and created a strange collective patriotic fervour, from which one just could not insulate oneself. The outstretched hands of their inspiring captain after taking every wicket created an impression that perhaps will never go livid from the memories.
Yes Pakistan has been defeated and defeated by a much better team. In our patriotic zeal we completely overlooked the fact that this Indian team is extraordinary. I have followed cricket since my childhood but have never seen such an awesome Indian unit.
But at the same time I would like to express my gratitude to Pakistan’s cricket team for dazzling us and for uniting us. For this past one month, Pakistan was one and Shahid Afridi and his talented team deserve appreciation for that.
And yes, Shahid Afridi did not need to apologize to the nation. It is us who need to manage our expectations.
India and Sri Lanka deserved to play the final and my best wishes are with them. May the better team win!
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Well played Pakistan and Well done India. Pakistan team did not deserve criticism. They played with vigour, played hard and played with their strenghth, that is their bowling. otherwise how could they have able to restrict India to 260. It is our unproportionate expectations that whenever our team play it will win (and in Indo-Pak scenerio it must win) leads to despair and disgust and in so… we lost the entertainment perspective of a match and even could not appreciate an outstanding innings or bowling effort whether it may come in loosing cause. .
Congratulations India and well played Pakistan.
[...] Well played India and Thank You Pakistan Cricket Team [...]
And I thought Afridi was very graceful in defeat.
Regards
Thank you, Misbah: Best. Innings. Ever.
It’s one thing to lose and quite another to be graceful about it. Pakistan was just that yesterday. Yes, I am an Indian, but I felt the good-will and the sportsmanship yesterday. And whatever the result, it goes without saying that there is nothing to match an India-Pakistan Cricket match in any sports amywhere in the world.
I posted the link on my FB page today, and there are quite a few people who seem to like your blogpost.
Thanx for the words.
Thanks Suneetha
Best wishes to India. As I said in the article also that this Indian cricketing unit is the most awesome in my living memory. Yes there was sportsmanship and good will prevailed despite the loss.
Whatever happens happens by the WILL OF ALLAH,win defeat these things do happen in life,its part and parcel of life.Pakistan played really well in this world cup,that itself is a great victory!!!!
I concur with others that Afridi was quite grace personified in his post match speech. That points to the leadership qualities he has had in moulding a team like Pakistan into one fighting unit.
Tausif azeez,
Is it? So why do you think Allah favored Kufr Hindustan over pure Pakistan?
There is appreciation all over for the graceful behaviour of Shahid Afridi. When there is Grace there is Goodwill.
Gotta second all the Afridi appreciation. He seems to be turning into a class act.
“So why do you think Allah favored Kufr Hindustan over pure Pakistan?..”
Because there are believers in India too !
Farid,
Do you mean there are more believers in India than Pakistan? What exactly you mean by “believer”?
Here is leading Indian intellectual wishing Pakistan wins the semi-final during a talk to Asia Society on makers of Modern India.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUj4ZoGtgys&feature=feedu
Though I am v. happy about India’s win, I would not have been upset had Pakistan won. Pakistanis had invested a humongous amount of emotion in it, and felt that they needed a bit of good news beside all the doom and gloom. I think even reaching semi-final was a win for them given all the scandals and indiscipline that has plagued the team.
Congratulations to both Pakistanis and Indians
The author writes:
We are a nation desperately starved of good news and have a tendency to elevate a thing to humongous proportions in terms of expectations when there is a sniff. But more than expectation, we tend to simply assume that sniff of victory will always materialize in victory and that victory will inturn help us in other myriad problems.
For Pakistanis “good news” is defeating India. Any hint of an Indian failure or defeat is the only thing that makes Pakistanis happy because two or three generations of Pakistanis have been brought up to believe that Pakistan exists as a symbol of Indian defeat. No matter how bad things are in Pakistan it’s all worth it in the end if India suffers some kind of loss or reversal – be it the bumping off of a few hundred people in Mumbai or defeat in a cricket match.
The death of about 40 innocent people in two suicide attacks on Maulana Diesel is not bad news. Defeat by India is bad news. Pakistan is a nation that requires psychotherapy.
More good news. India now has 1 billion more Indians than Pakistanis. That includes about 50 million excess males who will be frustrated and should be trained to hate and blame Pakistan for their woes by the usual culprits who control the world – RSS/RAW/Mossad etc. Should be fun for the next generation…
more importantly – since both pakistanis and indians prayed for their team’s victory, does india win mean that on the 30th of march, 2011, hindu gods prevailed on the muslim god aka allah.
ps – in allah’s defence, hindu gods do have numbers on their side; HE could have taken on a few thousand devis & devtas, but 330 million? even jesus christ couldn’t defeat those odds, and he came back to life after dying.
ps -the comment above is an amateurish attempt at humor..
I disagree with the analysis – India did not win; Pakistan lost. One cannot imagine so many dropped catches. And very sloppy batting too
This was Pakistan’s to lose, and they lost.
They played very well against us in the QF, that gave them overconfidence. Look what happened to South Africa ? They thought being top of Group B, beating India somehow made them well rounded. NewZeland did not think so
This WC is SriLanka’s to lose.
@Pagan:
I am not sure how to answer your questions because belief is a very personal matter; and means different things to different people.
Not everyone views such matters through the narrow lens of Indian-Pakistani nationalism.
For example, read the blog post below, it is quite illustrative.
“I first saw Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on tv on a Sunday morning at age 12, and was so struck by his sheer commitment, I completely forgot the breakfast in front of me.
He was by far the most generous artist I’ve ever experienced in a live show. I got to know him and his group later in the US as they grew from small rooms with a few hundred to the Universal Ampitheater packed with 25,000.
This is the best performance of this shabad sung 21 years ago (1989), which means: ‘Some call it Rama Rama, some call it the Creator.’ Fortunately someone had the foresight to record this one time inspired rendition, the melody in all other versions is different, and not as good in my opinion.
Koi Bole Ram Ram, Koi Khuda is a shabad written by Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji in the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib revealing one universal reality, source and existence regardless of differing labels or forms of worship. Sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and party in a Sikh gurdwara in London, UK approx 21 yrs ago. He was by far simply the most generous performer I’ve ever experienced in a live performance.
Sikh despite unquestioned cultural traditions means only ‘seeker of truth’ – so in its true sense any sincere seeker of truth is a Sikh. The word “Qawalli” has it’s origins in the Arabic word “qawl” (utterance). The lyrics, at this stage were primarily in Persian, Turkish and the occasional word of Hindi, celebrated Allah and the Prophet. It’s musical form relied heavily upon sophisticated ragas combined with exultant spontaneity, and it’s repetitive yet lyrical force at times sent people into trances.
Qawalli became an essential part of Muslim worship at Sufi shrines (spiritual part of Islam, largely persecuted and forced underground for centuries by the orthodox), and as a result of it’s popularity an important element in the conversion of Indians to Islam.
In recent times the foremost practitioner was 41 year old Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Faisalbad, Pakistan whose family have passed on and developed the tradition for over six centuries (father to son only, as it requires extreme endurance). Nusrat’s career started with blessings by a number of mystics at a sufi festival in Pakistan, hence he always started each concert with the song Allah Hoo. Nusrat & party gave their first British performance in Birmingham in 1979 and since then toured the country almost every year.
All the party sing, some are soloists, others act as a chorus. The music is provided by harmoniums (hand pumped organ like instrument), hand clapping and a set of tablas (a small pair of drums). From this combination emerges a sound of surprising variety and complexity, from angelic solo heights to awesome choral power. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice and the tabla combine in ecstatic improvisations, set against striking melodies.
At the turn of the 13th century, 40 years before the birth of Geoffrey Chaucer and 150 years before that of Leonardo De Vinci, Europe was steeped in the dark ages. In contrast, the Muslim world was flourishing from the maghrib (the west) in Spain where Muslim scholars were rediscovering and putting to use the lost knowledge of the Greeks, to the mashriq (the east) in India where a synthesis between Persian and Indian culture was taking place.
In India, Amir Khusrau was in the employ of princes and nobles as a poet and historian. However, his real allegiances lay with Sheikh Nizam-ud din-Awliya, the leader of the Chisti order of Sufi saints which had played an active part in popularizing Islam within India. Apart from inventing the sitar and the ghazal (poetic lovesong), Khusrau was responsible for inventing Qawalli.
Peter Gabriel was so inspired by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s power and range, he dubbed him as ‘The most powerful voice in the world.’ He consequently managed Nusrat’s career and tours in the West. Nusrat was part of the soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ, Dead Man Walking & Natural Born Killers.
A true Sufi in spirit, upon his untimely death in is early 40s, Nusrat was discovered to have been supporting hundreds of orphans and widows in Pakistan, yet wore the most simple attire, a mere $5 pair of shoes the biggest expense…..”
http://www.pardeep.com/koiboleramram.cfm
If you are still not satisfied, perhaps someone like BI or jtmh can enlighten you more.
Great Game , such a shame we did no take the powerplay earlier. I was very impressed with the conduct of Afridi especially when he wished the Indian team all the best in the final
The Indian team won because it played better. The role of Religion was, if anything, conspicuous by its absence.
bin ismail – “The Indian team won because it played better. The role of Religion was, if anything, conspicuous by its absence.”
are you suggesting that the muslim god and hindu gods have better things-poverty, disease, destruction- to do than watch the indo-pak semi final?
or,
are you saying that there is no god/s?
Mythbuster,
You are saying non Muslims are not kufrs? What do Farid and Mr Azeez think?
@Sceptic Ali (April 1, 2011 at 8:25 pm)
“…..are you suggesting that the muslim god and hindu gods have better things-poverty, disease, destruction- to do than watch the indo-pak semi final? or, are you saying that there is no god/s?…..”
Dear Prudence Incarnate,
I’m suggesting – well actually trying to suggest – that there are quite a few events, in which Allah/Ishwar/Yahweh/Ahura Mazda does not necessarily intervene. He simply lets things take their logical course. It appears, He also chose not to intervene, when you were taking your huge strides up the ladder of Oriental Wisdom.
The real victory of the India-Pakistan match is the fact that a whopping 1.2 billion of humanity experienced so much joy and that the Pakistanis , having played a good game, personified grace in their moment of defeat.
It will serve us all well, if only the spirit of peace and collaboration can be espoused instead of the over whelming negativity and conflict.
bin ismail – touche! thanks for indulging me. you, sir, are a good sport.
It is beyond comprehension how could Yunus and Misbah play so slow, it looked deliberate effort, what if Afridi won Semi Final and perhaps WC? Some ones role was threatened? These two players let down Pak. Not coincidental dropping easy catches – Yunus Misbah again. Or was it a friendly political gesture by those sitting high up in stadium? I do not like conspiracy theories, however something was not right.
MMZ,
“I do not like conspiracy theories, however something was not right.”
This is the problem! do something so that you stop thinking like this.
Control your mind……………..
Because in a match somebody or the other will not perform per “expectation” which is the reason why the teams lose correct.
Go back and watch each and every match ever palyed and you will see that there were some weak links which is the reason the match was lost.
Regds……Kamalraj
@Kamraj, You may watch as many games as you like. I do not want to discredit Indian efforts (I saw Sachin almost felt humiliated by those simple catches let down and I am an Indian), but Pak players like Yunus and Misbah were not playing test for a draw. Period.
Congratulations India for winning the World Cup and well played Sri Lanka.
Raza Habib Saheb,
Like your politicians, your cricketers too are experts at double-speak. Are you Also proud of the Afridi in the clipping below?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmtV2Ow2XRg&feature=player_detailpage
Regarding Afridi repeating the old Pakistani joke once he got into Pakistan(that they are better than Indians, take it military, or culture, or manners, or cuisine, or religion, or even in smooth bowel movement), perhaps he is planning to enter politics?
BI,
Thanks for your kind wishes. Looks like few of your “liberal” friends are ready to applaud our win. I was shcoked at some of the columns in Daily times. Apparently, double speak or speaking with a forked tongue is not entirely a preserve of the wily Hindu Bania. Here are some gems from Afridi. What a turd.
“In my opinion, if I have to tell the truth, they (Indians) will never have hearts like Muslims and Pakistanis. I dont think they have the large and clean hearts that Allah has given us,” Afridi said during a talk show on Samaa news channel when he was asked about relations between the two countries.
“It is a very difficult thing for us to live with them (Indians) or to have long-term relationship with them. Nothing will come out of talks. See how many times in the past 60 years we have had friendship and then how many times things have gone bad,” he said as the audience in the TV channel’s studio applauded him repeatedly. ”
You definitely lost one fan.
I only heard the part about manners on the U Tube posted at Times Now site and to me it sounded as a voice of anguish. He said that our players do not meet with that open heart as theirs. It may or may not be trur but we should learn to listen and ponder. Cricket is a game and a beautiful game to build a friendship on and every time if a discussion comes we keep on harping on 26/11 as if the players were responsible I for one don’t think it is in the right spirit. Many of us have played games and matches of various kinds and fiercer the competition the better the friendship and comraderie between the contestants. If our adversaries were in different towns then they would be the first whom we would contact and they would give us all help they could. We could then talk for hours even twenty years later of this match or that, this player or that eat and drink together and feel we have spent a happy time. Again look at Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Wasim Akram, Waqar Yunus, Rameez Raja and even Sikandar Bakht they have been of fulsome praise of the Indian Team and Sachin and Dhoni. We have never praised in such glowing terms the above Pakistani commentators or Hanif or Javed Miandad or Inzamam who have been no less players. Even while Sir Richards was comentating and showering praise on us all we could say that what has become of West Indies cricket forgetting the great heroes from there. Ya Indian cricketers are very wealthy well versed in English and gentlemanly but win or lose they can give Jhappis to our neighbours after the match. They are a friendly lot no doubt but a little more emotion will do no harm. However I do think our media has focussed too much on Indian players and that does start to grate a little.
Vijay Goel,
If you want to live in fantasies, you are welcome to do so. Don’t expect us to swallow your nonsense about anguish or whatever. We heard the same rascality from Shoaib Malik. Afridi gave one version to us and then when in Pakistan showed his true colors. Which one of our cricketers has ever said something like that. And why shouldn’t Gambhir dedicate his win to 26/11 victims? The game was played in Bombay and the players probably stayed in the Taj. How is it not possible to feel emotional about it. While you are at do read some of the columns in Daily times. Apparently, some geeks in Bangalore tweaked the DRS system to give Tendulkar the benefit of doubt!!! Wow!!! Hello!
I think in the current Pakistan team, apart from Shoaib Akhtar, all of them are grade A jerks.
I think Afridi is a great guy. If we start picking on small things we will lose whatever we achieved in terms of goodwill from WC11.
And it won’t even be fair. A little bit of prejudice is no big deal. All of us pick it up. Let’s keep the momentum going! We need to reach a stage where each other’s little follies become as normal as our own.
PR,
I am not against peace talks or whatever, but let’s cut out this pappi jhappi nonsense and talk as matured countries sans the shared culture and tradition and all that blather. We all have our own prejudices but that he is free to air such views in public to loud adulation just shocks me. The fool doesn’t even see the irony of his statments. I am frankly disgusted by the complete absence of grace in him and the stuff that’s been written in Pakistani newspapers. One wonders what’s been advertised in the Urdu press.
BM
It will take time. And it is no doubt frustrating in the meanwhile. Hopefully, one day we will be able to laugh off such silliness and neither side give it more attention than it deserves.
I am right winger myself, but I see more good sense in both countries than I expected. Amir Sohail has already spoken up against those comments. That tells me something good about the society. It is changing, just like we are all changing. Even many Pakistanis find things written in Indian newspapers unacceptable (although I can see what Indian response to that would be!).
I hate pappi jhappi stuff myself, but people like Raza Habib Raja and in this particular case, amir sohail deserve to acknowledged as positive signs of hope for everyone.
My two cents. In general, I respect honest emotional responses because it is better to express and share them than to hide them behind the facade of political correctness.
Unfortunately this is not the first a similar comment was made by Sohail Tanveer. This all links very nicely with the education system.
“Hinduo ki jehaniyat his aisi hai” – Sohail Tanveer
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/cricketnama/394025-sohail-tanvir-comments-on-hindus.html
For me the important thing is to try to educate our pak brothers and also educate indians on what lies on the other side and be realistic.
kamalraj
Being realistic means being sensitive to the complexity of the situation. There is much in Afridi we can like. He was gracious, intelligent, brave. There is much else we need to careful about and try to improve upon together.
It seems doable, incrementally.
As I see it a little emotion after a hard game is not such a bad thing. Australians and English will go and have a beer together after all that slanging etc. we have our jhappis but of course no pappis. But a jhappi devoid of any real feeling is absolutely disgusting. So BM Sahib when I meant Jhappi it meant that we have played a hard game, we have been competitive and we are both professionals lets call it a day and enjoy some comraderie. Even in Mahabharata where the stakes were higher both sides after killing each others kin would end their fight once evening came and visit each other forgetting all the ill will. So Jhappi for real letting go of all tension.
Vijay Goel
Whatever you say may be true, but don’t you wish Pakistanis stopped talking in terms of ‘us Muslims’ and ‘them Hindus’? Of course one is free to comment on the camaraderie or the lack of it in post-match interviews but commenting as a Pakistani on the behavior of Indians sounds very very different and a lot more civilized than commenting as a Muslim on the behavior of Hindus. Pakistanis have “larger and cleaner” hearts than Indians does not sound as bigotic as Muslims having larger and cleaner hearts (as given to them by Allah) than Hindus. This type of religious and cultural chauvinism has been at the heart of most problems in the subcontinent. I am so glad that an Indian Muslim member of the personal law board categorically condemned Afridi’s statement today.
Shahid Afridi Zindabad
Come on, friends. Which one of us has not taken a false step? Who doesn’t struggle with his or her own prejudices? Here’s our Afridi, who I can think can be a force for the good.
http://sports.ndtv.com/world-cup-2011/videos/?video_id=195596&cat=worldcup2011
Vijay Goel Saab,
It’s fine if you are dying to take some abuse with pappi and jhappis. I would rather prefer that next time when Afridi comes up with such nonsense Dhoni give him a nice solid kick in the nether regions and rest this whole business once and for all. I am done with cheering for this team. If he was speaking from his heart I would have applauded if he had the guts to say the same thing in India. I mean we roll out the red carpet for such morons and they go back and abuse us.
PR,
Just because we agree on certain issues does not mean that we are in the same boat. You speak for yourself.
NC,
Apparently, cleaner hearts didn’t prevent them from spot fixing.
BM Sahib, To me its a pleasure to post my views on this forum so if I get some abuses they are welcome maybe some day I will get some cheers too. LOL ! Lets enjoy the game the skill the competition and forget Hindu Muslim, India pakistan, Ishwar Allah, for a while and may be hope that cricket can bring some peace.
They say once you tell a lie or make a mistake, then to cover up for it you start telling more lies or making more mistakes !!
I actually praised Shahid on various blogs. after his gracious words in Mohali. Then the ungrateful uncouth had to open his mouth and spoil it all for us.. I had actually posted on my facebook that now ppl should forget 2611 and allow Pak cricketers back in IPL. Not anymore.
The fool attacked Gautam Gambhir for dedicating the win to 2611 survivors- bizarre- I saw it as a noble gesture on part of Gambhir. Now watch this clip of Shahid Afridi, can anyone please help him extricate his foot from his mouth- really, extreme yoga must not be practiced by the uninitiated !!
http://sports.ndtv.com/world-cup-2011/videos/?video_id=195596&cat=worldcup2011
A saddened Dr Mishra, India and UK
@ no communal Sir, I respect you a lot for your balanced comments but this time I would be wholly with Progressive Right. Afridi has been a Great Captain blended a team which no one thought much of into one hell of a fighting unit. He has also been gracious to clarify that he meant that the media twists the words for sensationalism. Lets take the proud Pathan at his words. If he was an Indian we would worshipping the ground he walked on and forgiven him much more. If we have a large heart lets show it .
A dilated heart is a sick heart. Needs therapy.
Pakistanis have a guilty conscience vis a vis hindus – so this supposedly large heart towards hindus. Hindus know that the agents and quislings of islam have stolen and snatched a lot already and need not be given any more chances for it.