PTV should have its own commentators

Under the lights, the team bowling second was clearly at a disadvantage because of the dew factor and in Lahore, the lights had also attracted dragon-flies, moths and other flying insects. Moin Khan was lucky that he won every toss and had the Pakistan think-tank not botched up the first of the one-day internationals by opting to bat first and by playing with only five bowlers, Pakistan could have whitewashed England. By batting first at Karachi, it was evident that the memory of the Golden Jubilee Quadrangular Tournament had faded altogether.

By playing five bowlers, it was evident also that nothing had been learnt by the experience of the semi-final against New Zealand in the ICC Knock-out tournament in Nairobi. These were pretty elementary mistakes and even after Pakistan had posted 304, I received a telephone call from Lahore to say "so far, so good," and I said to the caller that celebrations were premature. Both these mistakes were rectified at Lahore and Shahid Afridi came into the side and the luckless Imran Nazir was left out.

There is only one way to prove your critics wrong and that is to go out there is the middle and perform. And that is precisely what Shahid Afridi did with both ball and bat. It was the stuff of fairy-tales. Left out in the first match, to become the Man-of-the-Match in the second. So emphatic was Pakistan's win at Lahore that one felt that all that Moin Khan needed to do was to win the toss at Rawalpindi. Which, against the law of averages, he did.

At Lahore, the spinners had come into their own. The England team arrived in Pakistan convinced that its batsmen had no clue against quality spin, which they do not appear to have, but they seem to have allowed this to play on their minds. As soon as Mushtaq came on to bowl and turned the first ball prodigiously, England was mentally reconciled to the fact that its goose was cooked. And they brought this same frame of mind to Rawalpindi.

Nasser Hussain was unlucky to be given out and one can sympathise with him though not to the extent that he trashed the dressing-room and broke a window pane. It was obvious that the England team was all keyed-up for the Rawalpindi match but, he after all, is the captain.

Against that it can be argued that he is human as were the lawenforcement agencies who resorted to the use of tear-gas outside the main gate of the pavilion. They can claim, with every justification that they are provoked but somehow the tear-gassing does not seem right, nor does the England captain's tantrums.

After having dismissed England for 158, the spinners once again were magnificent, Saqlain Mushtaq in particular, Pakistan made heavy weather of knocking off the runs. A modest target, is often, more difficult to reach than a massive one and Pakistan lost three quick wickets. Imran Nazir just hung out his bat, as one hangs out the laundry, Shahid Afridi having hit two fours felt that he could do it on his own and in boundaries and Salim Elahi just steered Ashley Giles to first slip as if, giving fielding practice, no footwork of any kind! It was left to Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana to steady the ship and by playing sensible cricket, no heroics of any kind, repaired the Pakistan innings. It was an out of character innings from Inzamam and he showed great responsibility.

And then it was left to Abdur Razzaq to finish the job with a flourish, too brief to be even a cameo, just an impulse of pure joy. It was the first one-day series win against England since 1974. I was the manager of that 1974 team. The first match at Trent Bridge was won by Majid Khan who made a hundred, an innings that I rate as the best I have ever seen in one-day internationals. He just carved up the England attack and I recently saw it on video and it had me sitting on the edge of my seat, as I was, in the dressing room in 1974.

The second match at Edgbaston was won by our fast bowlers, Asif Masood, Sarfaraz Nawaz and the then babay of the team, Imran Khan. At lunch we had England 28 for 8 and the England captain, Mike Denness looked shell-shocked. I put my arm around him and told him: "Sorry Mike, we did not mean to play it so hard."

But Pakistan cannot rest on its laurels. The more serious business of test cricket is due to start in a fortnight's time. Obviously Pakistan should go in with three spinners, Shahid Afridi being the third but the batting will have to be beefed up and a case can be made for the recall of Ijaz Ahmed. I would have said Wasti too to open the innings with Saeed Anwar but I think we should preserver with Imran Nazir. I think he needs to feel secure and his place in the team should not be on a performance to performance basis. Pakistan needs a fixed pair of openers in the test matches as it used to have, Majid and Sadiq Mohammad and then Mudassar Nazar and Mohsin Khan.

Anyhow, a very good job done by Pakistan and despite all the mismanagement, those who were able to get inside the grounds, enjoyed themselves and those watching television even more so. There were many good performances from the Pakistan side but the man-of-the-series as far as I am concerned was Abdur Razzaq and from the England side it would have to David Lloyd, the former manager and now turned commentator.

Right to the end, he was there, pulling for England and never letting the viewer forget that Nasser Hussain was the victim of a bad umpiring decision. I hope for the test matches, PTV will have its own team of commentators. That too is a home advantage and Pakistan television viewers should be spared the highly slanted views of former England players, who, quite rightly, are patriotic. And I hope too that there will be better crowd management.