Both Kardar and Imran were Oxonians and had played English county cricket for several seasons where they had learnt the finer points of the game. Both were martinets as captains, brooking no dissent and laziness from the players or interference from officials. They were both politicians in the making. After retiring from cricket Kardar and Imran pursued political careers in Pakistan. Kardar and Imran were nationalists who wore their patriotism on their sleeves. When visiting India, Kardar tended to glorify the role of Muslim rulers of the past by referring, for instance, to Mughal architecture and Muslim cultural influence for which Lucknow was famous. Imran too conveyed a patrician attitude when in India and elsewhere, often having the advantage of leading a winning team with stalwarts like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Qadir and, of course, Imran himself. This aggressively nationalistic attitude by our most successful captains was not conducive to producing a mellow atmosphere in public and in political circles of India.
Before and after Imran Khan, captains came and went at regular intervals through PCB’s revolving door until Inzamam-ul-Haq was appointed a year or so before I took over as chairman. Though not a university graduate, I found Inzamam to be wise, dignified and perceptive. He knew his cricket thoroughly and was the obvious unchallenged leader of the Pakistan team because of his seniority and because he was one of the finest batsmen in the world. Deeply religious, Inzamam’s leadership was a mix of cricket captain and prayer leader of the team. Inzamam gave the appearance of being laid back and ponderous but in fact his antennae were sharp and sensitive. Politically and socially, he was astute at handling diverse personalities like Bob Woolmer and visiting cricket captains with great sensitivity, always maintaining a dignified calm even in situations fraught with tension. For instance, in a tense ODI in Ahmedabad (2005), Inzamam was batting and had to score one run off the last ball of the match for victory. Everyone was on tenterhooks around the packed stadium until Inzamam calmly stroked the last ball for four. In this moment of triumph, Inzamam did not dance a jig, he did not flail his bat and rush back victorious to his celebrating colleagues, he did not even fall to the ground to perform the religious ‘sajda’. Inzamam simply looked up to the sky to thank the Almighty and, head bowed, walked modestly back to the pavilion. I would often remind Inzamam and his team of this remarkable example of self-control and dignity which is essential in meeting critical situations during the course of a cricket series. Over time I developed a high regard for Inzamam.
It was to Inzamam that I turned to ensure that the India series of 2004 took place in a sporting spirit. We were to play cricket matches and not engage in battles on the field. I discussed with him how through cricket, we had the responsibility to project a civilized, moderate and peaceful image of Pakistan not only towards India but to the millions of cricket lovers in Australia, England, Africa and the West Indies who would be watching the series on television. In recent years Pakistan’s image had been severely distorted, leaving a huge gap between perception and reality. One incident on or off the field would poison the atmosphere, spreading to the crowds and to the general public through the sensation-seeking media. Inzamam knew exactly what I was talking about. I did not have to say more. He took on the responsibility and carried it out to the hilt not only in the 2004 series but also in the 2005 and 2006 series that were played without a single untoward incident. Of course, the Indian team under the mature leadership of Ganguly and Dravid played an equally responsible role in promoting this positive atmosphere. Thus, the role of the captains and their teams were a crucial factor in the change from the rancorous, unpleasant, defensive contests of the past to building cricketing blocks for peace and better understanding between Pakistanis and Indians.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the transformation of the general public’s attitude from antipathy to a welcoming friendship has been due to the realisation by the common man that fifty years of confrontation has been futile. The people of India and Pakistan have been held back, suffering immense poverty and hardship, while the two neighbours dissipate their riches in an expanding spiral of rockets, tanks, submarines, nuclear bombs and military hardware. Where is the clean drinking water, the hospitals, the schools, the village dispensaries and the roads that progressive Third World countries are taking in their stride? At the end of a recent lecture on Pakistan-India relations at LUMS, a student asked me: ‘If Britain and France could become partners with Germany in the European Union despite being enemies in two World Wars, why cannot Pakistan and India resolve their differences for the overall benefit of both countries?’ I did not have an answer. A new generation of people living in the global village and with high expectations of a better life are no longer the willing slaves of government handouts, censored national media or the edicts of the politicians and agencies. They have developed a mind of their own. The basic issue is that the people crave peace and not hostility. Kashmir, Siachen, Trade and Sir Creek are issues to be resolved but that does not mean that two peoples who share a common history, culture and language should not move towards peace and understanding.
In 2004, I sensed this public mood in the air like the onset of the monsoon. A stirring, sporting series would provide a perfect fillip to the desire for peace and the eventual resolution of issues. Carefully handled, cricket could act as a bridge of peace. We in the PCB took risks like the sharing of stands between Indian and Pakistani supporters but the end justified the means. The series led to a megaburst of goodwill between neighbouring people that set a high water-mark in improved relations that the governments, the agencies and the political hardliners could not ignore.
Those improved relations have sadly been jeopardized by the terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26 November 2008, which was a traumatic experience for the people of India as well as being deeply disturbing to the Pakistani public. The Indian government and media have maintained that the attack was planned and executed by Pakistani terrorists operating from Pakistani soil, with the result that the anger of the Indian government and people has been trained against Pakistan. It remains to be established whether the terrorist attack was sponsored or condoned by a Pakistani agency. Pakistan has categorically denied any such conclusion. The fact is that these very same terrorists have carried out gruesome attacks on a regular basis against Pakistani targets that include the bombing of the Marriott Hotel, blowing up girls’ schools and CD shops, assassinating army generals, killing children of Air Force staff travelling in a school bus, blasting Lahore police headquarters and several army messes. These terrorist attacks are almost a daily occurrence in FATA, Swat and the Northern regions and are filtering down to the settled areas of Peshawar, Attock, Kohat, Quetta, Islamabad and Lahore.
As a result of the Mumbai attack, the Indian cricket team’s tour of Pakistan in January 2009 was cancelled. This was not because of security concerns, which had earlier seen cancellations of the Australian tour and the Champions Trophy, but because of the political tension that had erupted between the two countries. This undulating relationship has in the past seen suspension of cricket and sporting contests between the two countries for varying periods. The 1965 and 1971 wars led to a long barren period until the peace process began to establish itself. Other incidents like Kargil, the Babri Masjid demolition, the attack on India’s parliament and the Gujarat riots led to shorter suspensions. It has often been a case of two steps forward and one (or two) step back in the peace process. The Mumbai terrorist attack must be seen as part of the same syndrome.
I believe there are strong reasons to expect that the anger and hostility between India and Pakistan will gradually abate and that the peace process will resume. My first reason is that the perpetrators of these terrorist attacks are a greater menace for Pakistan than for India. They threaten the very fabric of the state in Pakistan and have embarked on a policy of carnage and devastation in collusion with al- Qaeda. As a senior Pakistani general recently remarked: ‘Terrorism (not India) is the greatest threat to Pakistan.’ It is inconceivable that
the government of Pakistan would sponsor or even condone terrorist attacks such as the Mumbai horror. When the dust settles, sensible people in India will appreciate that Pakistan is the victim of terrorism, not its deliberate perpetrator. Secondly, after sixty years of independence, people on both sides of the border crave harmony and mutual tolerance and the subsequent dividends of peace through development. They share many cultural, historical and social values. They realize that there are problems left over from imperialist rule but they want to see them resolved peacefully. Tension and hostility lead to insecurity and depression all around. Public opinion has often been ahead of both governments in raising its voice for peace, as was apparent in the reaction to the cricket tours in 1999 and 2004. Thirdly, the leadership of the main parties of Pakistan, both President Asif Zardari of the PPP and Nawaz Sharif of the Muslim League, who signed the Lahore Declaration, are genuinely committed to seeking peaceful, good neighbourly relations.
All these factors point to the resumption in time of the peace dialogue between the two neighbours, especially as they face a common enemy in organized terrorism. Hurling accusations against each other surely helps the terrorists to achieve one of their major objectives – halting the peace process and reviving hostility between India and Pakistan. The terrorist syndrome cries out for a regional compact to jointly oppose this evil force and the first step would be to harmonize bilateral relations and then to include Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the US and China in our joint efforts to address the terrorist scourge through regional coordination. Hopefully, for all these reasons, the peace process will resume, and once confidence-building measures are in place, I am convinced that cricket will again provide the catalyst to bring about harmony, tolerance and good neighbourly relations between the two countries.
acknowledgements
Though I consulted several books, journals and on-line resources in the preparation of this manuscript, I am indebted, in particular, to three books for invaluable source-material. These are: Omar Noman’s engaging and comprehensive Pride and Passion: An Exhilarating Half Century of Cricket in Pakistan (Karachi, Oxford, 1998); Ramachandra Guha’s superb A Corner of a Foreign Field (Picador, London, 2002); and the indispensable archives of CricInfo.com, the cricket fan’s daily bible. Obviously any errors of fact, recollection or interpretation are mine alone.
New York
March 2009
Shashi Tharoor
In compiling my contribution to the book, I am deeply indebted to my friend Ramachandra Guha’s book A Corner of a Foreign Field (Picador, London, 2002). The book is a superb anthology of cricket in India and deserves to be counted as one of the outstanding books on cricket. I have also drawn inspiration from Sir John Major’s history of English cricket More than a Game (Harper Sport, London, 2007). The title of the book epitomizes everything that I have to say in my contribution. As always Wisden’s meticulously researched accounts of the Tests have been an invaluable source for my research. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my daughter-in-law, Mariyam Ali Khan, for so cheerfully typing out the manuscript from my illegible handwriting.
Lahore
March 2009
Shaharyar Khan
scorecards
Test Matches
Delhi, 16-18 October 1952 (4-day match)
India 372 (Adhikari 81*, Hazare 72, Elahi 4-134) beat Pakistan 150 (Hanif Mohammad 51, Mankad 8-52) and 152 (Mankad 5-79, Ahmed 4-35)
India won by an innings and 70 runs
Lucknow, 23-26 October 1952 (4-day match)
Pakistan 331 (Nazar Mohammad 124*) beat India 106 (Mahmood 5-52) and 182 (Amarnath 61*, Mahmood 7-42)
Pakistan won by an innings and 43 runs
Bombay, 13-15 November 1952 (4-day match)
India 387/4 (Hazare 146*, Umrigar 102) and 35 for 0 beat Pakistan 186 (Hasan 81, Amarnath 4-40) and 242 (Hanif Mohammad 96, Hasan 65, Mankad 5-72)
India won by 10 wickets
Madras, 28 November–1 December 1952 (4-day match)
Pakistan 344 (Kardar 79, Zulfiqar Ahmed 63*) drew with India 175 for 6 (Umrigar 62)
Match drawn
Calcutta, 12-15 December 1952 (4-day match)
Pakistan 257 (Nazar Mohammad 55, Hanif Mohammad 56, Imtiaz Ahmed 57, Phadkar 5-72) and 236 for 7 (Hasan 97) drew with India 397 (Shodhan 110) and 28 for 0
Match drawn
Dacca, 1-4 January 1955 (4-day match)
Pakistan 257 (Hasan 52, Imtiaz Ahmed 54, Ahmed 5-109) and 158 (Alimuddin 51, Hasan 51, Gupte 5-18) drew with India 48 (Hussain 6-67) and 147 for 2 (Roy 67*, Manjrekar 72*)
Match drawn
Bahawalpur, 15-18 January 1955 (4-day match)
India 235 (Manjrekar 50, Ramchand 53, Tamhana 54*, Khan Mohammad 5-74) and 209 for 5 (Roy 78, Manjrekar 59) drew with Pakistan 312 (Hanif Mohammad 142, Alimuddin 64, Umrigar 6-74)
Match drawn
Lahore, 29 January-1 February 1955 (4-day match)
Pakistan 328 (Maqsood Ahmed 99, Wazir Mohammad 55, Imtiaz Ahmed 55, Gupte 5-133) and 136 for 5 (Alimuddin 58) drew with India 251 (Umrigar 78) and 74 for 2
Match drawn
Peshawar, 13-16 February 1955 (4-day match)
Pakistan 188 (Gupte 5-63) and 182 (Imtiaz Ahmed 69, Mankad 5-64) drew with India 245 (Umrigar 108) and 23 for 1
Match drawn
Karachi, 26 February-1 March 1955 (4-day match)
Pakistan 162 (Ramchand 6-49) and 241 for 5 (Alimuddin 103*, Kardar 93) drew with India 145 (Khan Mohammad 5-73, Mahmood 5-48) and 69 for 2
Match drawn
Bombay, 2-7 December 1960
Pakistan 350 (Hanif Mohammad 160, Saeed Ahmed 121) and 166 for 4 (Imtiaz Ahmed 66) drew with India 449 for 9 (Desai 85, Manjrekar 73, Contractor 62, Joshi 52*, Mahmood Hussain 5-129)
Match drawn
Kanpur, 16-21 December 1960
Pakistan 335 (Burki 79, Nasim-ul-Ghani 70*) and 140 for 3 drew with India 404 (Umrigar 115, Jaisimha 99, Manjrekar 52, Ahsan 5-121)
Match drawn
Calcutta, 30 December-4 January 1961
Pakistan 301 (Mushtaq Mohammad 61, Hanif Mohammad 56, Alam 56) and 146 for 3 (Hanif Mohammad 63*) drew with India 180 (Mahmood 5-26) and 127 for 4
Match drawn
Madras, 13-18 January 1961
Pakistan 448 for 8 (Imtiaz Ahmed 135, Saeed Ahmed 103, Hanif Mohammad 62) and 59 for 0 drew with India 539 for 9 (Borde 177*, Umrigar 117, Contractor 81, Ahsan 6-202)
Match drawn
Delhi, 8-13 February 1961
India 463 (Umrigar 112, Contractor 92, Surti 64) and 16 for 0 drew with Pakistan 286 (Mushtaq Mohammad 101, Burki 61, Kumar 5-64) and 250 (Imtiaz Ahmed 53, Nadkarni 4-43, Desai 4-88)
Match drawn
Faisalabad, 16-21 October 1978
Pakistan 503 for 8 (Zaheer Abbas 176, Miandad 154*) and 264 for 4 (Asif Iqbal 104, Zaheer Abbas 96) drew with India 462 for 9 (Viswanath 145, Gavaskar 89, Vengsarkar 83) and 43 for 0
Match drawn
Lahore, 27 October-1 November 1978
Pakistan 539 for 6 (Zaheer Abbas 235*, Bari 85, Mushtaq Mohammad 67*) and 128 for 2 beat India 199 (Vengsarkar 76, Sarfraz 4-46, Imran 4-54) and 465 (Gavaskar 97, Chauhan 93, Amarnath 60, Viswanath 83)
Pakistan won by 8 wickets
Karachi, 14-19 November 1978
Pakistan 481 for 9 (Miandad 100, Mushtaq Mohammad 78, Nazar 57) and 164 for 2 (Miandad 62*) beat India 344 (Gavaskar 111, Kapil Dev 59) and 300 (Gavaskar 137, Amarnath 53, Sarfraz 5-70)
Pakistan won by 8 wickets
Bangalore, 21-26 November 1979
Pakistan 431 for 9 (Nazar 126, Miandad 76, Iqbal 55) and 108 for 2 drew with India 416 (Gavaskar 88, Viswanath 73, Yashpal 62)
Match drawn
Delhi, 4-9 December 1979
Pakistan 273 (Wasim Raja 97, Iqbal 64, Kapil Dev 5-58) and 242 (Wasim Raja 61, Zaheer Abbas 50, Kapil Dev 4-63) drew with India 126 (Bakht 8-69) and 363 for 6 (Vengsarkar 146*, Yashpal 60)
Match drawn
Bombay, 16-20 December 1979
India
334 (Kapil Dev 69, Vengsarkar 58, Bakht 5-55) and 160 (Qasim 6-40) beat Pakistan 173 and 190 (Miandad 64, Ghavri 4-63)
India won by 131 runs
Kanpur, 25-30 December 1979
India 162 (Bakht 5-56, Ehteshamuddin 5-47) and 193 for 2 (Gavaskar 81, Chauhan 61) drew with Pakistan 249 (Wasim Raja 94*, Kapil Dev 6-63)
Match drawn
Madras, 15-20 January 1980
India 430 (Gavaskar 166, Kapil Dev 84, Imran 5-114) and 76 for 0 beat Pakistan 272 (Majid 56, Kapil Dev 4-90) and 233 (Miandad 52, Wasim Raja 57, Kapil Dev 7-56)
India won by 10 wickets
Kolkata, 29 January-3 February 1980
India 331 (Patil 62, Yashpal 62, Imran 4-67, Ehteshamuddin 4-87) and 205 (Imran 5-63) drew with Pakistan 272 for 4 (Arif 90, Majid 54, Miandad 50, Wasim Raja 50*) and 179 for 6
Match drawn
Lahore, 10-15 December 1982
Pakistan 485 (Zaheer Abbas 215, Mohsin 94, Nazar 50, Doshi 5-90) and 135 for 1 (Mohsin 101*) drew with India 379 (Amarnath 109*, Gavaskar 83, Arun Lal 51, Patil 68)
Match drawn
Karachi, 23-27 December 1982
Pakistan 452 (Zaheer Abbas 186, Nazar 119, Kapil Dev 5-102) beat India 169 (Kapil Dev 73, Qadir 4-67) and 197 (Vengsarkar 79, Madan Lal 52, Imran 8-60)
Pakistan won by an innings and 86 runs
Faisalabad, 3-8 January 1983
Pakistan 652 (Zaheer Abbas 168, Miandad 126, Malik 107, Imran 117, Kapil Dev 7-220) and 10 for 0 beat India 372 (Patil 84, Kirmani 66, Viswanath 53, Madan Lal 54, Imran 6-98) and 286 (Gavaskar 127, Amarnath 78, Imran 5-82)
Shadows Across the Playing Field Page 17
