A call for perspective

Cricinfo, as far as I can tell, isn't the place to vent one's frustrations. At the very least, one can outline valid reasons in an organized, mature manner. And that's why Samir Chopra's latest post "Should any 'family' be this tolerant?" strikes me as, in the author's words, "patently offensive".

I do agree with Mr. Chopra in one regard - that we should stop with the increasingly grating cliches of wonderfully unpredictable, charmingly volatile, and capable of spectacular blows both to itself and to its on-field opponents. It sounds entertaining enough, but it's not helping Pakistan cricket. A far more agreeable term for all concerned would be quietly clinical, thoroughly professional...but Pakistan isn't anywhere near that. The board, in my opinion, has exacerbated matters.

Yes, Pakistan suffers from too much player power and yes, it needs to be checked. But what exactly the bans slapped on two of the team's veterans, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, are supposed to achieve is anybody's guess. Younis, by all accounts a dignified and sincere member of the side, has been one of Pakistan's most stalwart performers over the years. His results may not impress in terms of Standard Deviation - a first-baller can be followed by a match-winning century, or some-such, but, in general he gets the job done. So he didn't particularly take to captaincy. He was certainly taking Pakistan in the right direction when political interference into over-hyped defeats in the Champions Trophy insulted his integrity. Few players have had so ill-deserved a send-off.

Yousuf, whose easy, graceful strokes could melt butter on a frigid winter day, was perhaps Pakistan's best performer of the topsy-turvy 2000s. A fluent, dashing stroke-player to begin with, he then displayed an increasing tendency to fight it out at the crease, culminating in a record run-tally in the calendar year of 2006. An undignified off-field spat with Shoaib Malik and some tactless comments during a disastrous captaincy aside, he hardly deserved so wretched a punishment.

The punishment reeks more of a diversionary tactic. In the aftermath of a disastrous Australian tour, the PCB needed to be seen as doing something. Like the shameless politicians before them, they tried a cheap distraction. And the sad thing is it's not the first time, either. Of course, as Chopra says, it would not be surprising if these banned players made a comeback. Pakistan has a history, not just in cricket, of confounding comebacks. And instead of affectionately oozing over the glorious uncertainties, Pakistan would do well to pick itself up and try to instill some consistency and accountability into its cricket.

But Mr. Chopra, with all due respect, seems to have taken this latest twist as an opportunity to vent a lifetime of misgivings. He has his right to, of course, and I hope he won't begrudge me my right to respond, but the stream of "endemic indiscipline" and "stunning lack of professionalism" seems to strike me as somewhat one-eyed. Yes, Inzamam-ul-Haq once lost his temper with a Toronto spectator. Shameful, and not pretty to watch. But it's all too easy to forget Khalid Latif's prudence when confronted with a worse situation just over a month ago. Those volatile Pakistanis, indeed. And not to make this a slanging match, but when accused of "Test-match forfeits", it's too easy to point out Bishan Singh Bedi and Sunil Gavaskar's tantrums against West Indies and Australia respectively; when accused of crying "racist", it's too easy to recall Indian fans' recent fits against an admittedly suspect Australia in 2007-08, as well as the infamous Mike Denness Affair of 2001-02; when accused of crying "umpiring conspiracies", it's all too easy to recall the Indian media's public mangling of Steve Bucknor, who admittedly had a terrible Sydney match, in 2008.

Yet Indian cricket, largely to its credit but also due to the sometimes ill-disguised indulgence of other nations, has emerged stronger. Mr. Chopra's lambasting of Pakistan cricket is correct in theory, not method, much as the Australian media months ago laid into a supposedly haphazard West Indies and were called to show some decency by an unusually-stirred Joel Garner. Does Pakistan cricket need to introspect? You bet. Is such open contempt and disrespect necessary for that to happen? Probably not. Perhaps Mr. Chopra's truest statement is "We could all do with a little tough love." Quite. Pakistan, much like West Indies and Zimbabwe, is in some strife at the moment. Hanging out all misgivings to dry is hardly an appropriate response. (P.S. I understand this post may be slightly inflammatory. No personal attack on Mr. Chopra is intended and I hope the editors understand.)