Mujahid C: Adhoc Committee Surrenders To Player Power (Feb94)

"Adhoc Committee Surrenders To Player Power" - Chisty Mujahid - Pakistani Cricketer - Feb, 1994.

My wife had a rather smug smile the other day when the BCCP bosses were dismissed by their Patron and replaced by an adhoc committee. The smugness emanated from the fact that she had in the aftermath of the "caretaker" government last year suggested a "caretaker" set up to deal with the problems which were ailing our cricket scene. What she does not realize is that our political and economic problems are child's play compared to the intricacies of our cricketing world. No one, but no one, be they generals, air marshalls, cracker jack executives, top brass civil servants and administrators or politicians, have been able to harness and channelize, let alone discipline the energies, exuberance and effervescence of our cricket "heroes". They have time and again been allowed to get away with blue murder. Every person who is given charge of the BCCP vows to enforce discipline at all cost. The usual line on taking over is that no one is bigger than the game and no player will be allowed to dictate terms whatever his stature or standing. At times, even before these worthy words have been printed, the exact opposite is allowed to be implemented with the blessings of those very personalities who had 'warned' of dire consequences if any one dared to step out of line - human memory is short indeed. Ever since Pakistan won the World Cup, there has been "something rotten" in the state of its cricket affairs. Miandad did succeed Imran as captain but it was quite evident that there was conspiracy afoot against the maestro who, on more than one occasion, had stepped down from the pedestal of leadership for the benefit of the game and country. It seems that Javed Miandad's selfless and patriotic gestures had not been taken due notice of. Under his leadership Pakistan defeated England in the much talked about Test series. In the euphoria of the Test victories no one took any notice of the fact that the World Champions of the instant stuff had been soundly thrashed 1-4 in the one-day series. What is more intriguing is the fact that the vicecaptain on that tour, Saleem Malik, lost his job on return to be replaced in the 2IC slot by Rameez Raja for tour of the Antipodes. Why sack a winning vice-captain? Was it to pave the way for sacking his boss later? Down under Pakistan continued their losing streak in the one-dayers which this time caused a great stir and consternation among fans and authorities alike. However, their Test victory against New Zealand in the oneoff Test achieved through the astute captaincy of Miandad and tremendous efforts of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram went unsung and unnoticed. After the team's return Miandad was sacked from captaincy as was his deputy Rameez Raja, and the way had been cleared for Wasim and Waqar to be inducted in their places. That is the blunder (or was it preplanned?) which the authorities committed. Miandad's patriotism, his loyalty and support to Imran Khan and his devotion and dedication to duty did not deserve to be rewarded thus. The captaincy was now his rightful place and he should have been duly compensated for his past sacrifice. A case could have been, and was made for giving Imran preference over Miandad as captain but the same arguments did not apply to the case of the raw though talented Wasim Akram or the brilliant but yet immature Waqar Younis. The BCCP should have continued with Miandad as captain and appointed Wasim Akram as his deputy for the Sharjah circus, South Africa, West Indies, home series vs Zimbabwe, tour of New Zealand and for events leading up to and including the World Cup. Besides having the stewardship of the team Miandad should have been given the task of grooming Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and a couple of others like Asif Mujtaba and Rashid Latif, to take over from him. That was not to be. Why wait for such smooth transition when the powers that can change the shape of things with one stroke of the pen without caring for the damage they may cause to the cricket of the country? What does that matter as long as the vested interests are served? What followed is freshly etched in the memory of all cricket fans. Not only did we not perform to expectations, our discipline hit an all time low with the peak being reached when the infamous Grenada incident hit the headlines. We in Pakistan, be they officials or journalists, defended our four errant heroes tooth and nail, yet the leaders of the gang (Wasim and Waqar) sold their confessions to an England tabloid for a handful of (sterling) silver. An administrative set up worth its salt would have banned the four "offenders" on the spot. However, we turned a blind eye and a deaf ear - were we afraid of player power? It was during the tour of Sharjah and the home series against Zimbabwe that the "young pretender" Waqar Younis began to have designs on the captaincy and plots began to be hatched against Wasim Akram. The incumbent captain did his cause no favours by alienating the seniors - Miandad, Malik, Raja, the deputy Waqar and his bosom buddy Aaqib Javed - and ignoring the juniors. Akram tried to follow the autocratic approach of his mentor Imran Khan without having achieved that status or mastered the technique. The end was inevitable. A revolt was brewing and exploded straight into the faces of the adhoc set up by Mr. Burki, Dr. Altaf and Mr. Abbassi no sooner had they announced the team to tour New Zealand. Initially it looked that the adhoc committee would not relent under pressure of the players as their many worthy predecessors had done on several occasions in the past. Had the past boards acted as tough as they talked this sorry state of affairs would not have come to pass. For once there seemed a ray of hope as the "no nonsense" Burki read out the riot act. However, it seems that a bargain was struck - "Wasim out from captaincy; Javed Miandad out from team". This course of action probably suited all vested interests. That is how the cookie crumbled. We have once again wilted under player power. This does not augur well for the future. We should for once enforce discipline even if it is at the cost of losing over a few years on the trot (as it is we are not an all-conquering outfit). Players must be made to realize that it is Pakistan who has made them what they are today; their livelihoods, their careers, their futures depend of wearing the green and gold colors; they should be proud of this fact rather than pretend that they are doing us a favor by playing for Pakistan. All the nine (or were there ten?) who revolted should have been summarily dismissed - regardless of the fact they are the best players available - and a new outfit dispatched to New Zealand (preferabley under the captaincy of Javed Miandad). It must be remembered that there is no dearth of talent in the country. It only needs proper organization, harnessing and disciplining. There is so much at stake for the players in representing their country these days that most of them if not all would have begged to return to the fold had they been threatened with the sack. It may be recalled that some months ago the Indian Board refused their players including Azharuddin and Kapil Dev, permission to to go Dubai for an exhibition series and the players dutifully backed out. Our boards, on the other hand gave permission with retrospective effect or took no action when our players took off for USA, Canada, Hongkong, even at the expense of domestic cricket, to participate in unofficial contests. One person who seems to have been the victim of all this hullaballoo is the man who most deserved to be in the side to New Zealand - Javed Miandad.