By Parvez Jamil
It’s merely sweet dreams for our cricket chief selector, coach, captain and stars to be lost in the utopia of current world level outings. In fact, it is all sour reality of their ever repeated blunders that continue to daunt and haunt our cricket passionately engrossed nation. Amid chocked ears and closed eyes, men at the helm of our cricket affairs, as mentioned, are such strangers to the reality that lessons are never learned as the history of failures repeats over and over again.
Firstly, weak reflex action, lack of physical fitness and non-committal attitude glaringly expose our fielding loopholes to crushing defeats over and over again. Blunder adds to lackluster fielding over the years is muddling with the ball, missing and picking, turning the arm long and around and throwing with an extra run or two gifting a good 50 to 60 to the obviously winning team. On the contrary, almost every other team has mastered the art of picking and throwing all in one action saving those vital runs that make a big difference in the end.
Secondly, let alone problems in physical fitness, alarmingly pathetic is mental alertness. Of late, even our fancied wicketkeeper captain seemed lethargic and lackluster by yawning in the crucial most recent match and lost mental composure in an earlier match by not taking a review of an opponent’s run out which even camera and commentators justified the time and again. As the captain sets the trend in being mentally lost, batsmen follow in mentally panicked run outs.
Thirdly, while our opponent batting plunders due to our fielding loopholes, our batting blunders due to lack training and composure. Who would coach them how to negotiate nasty rising deliveries, how would they learn to be composed and calculated at the wicket and continue the score moving through singles or twos rather than playing dots and who would dare to stop them when they are carried away with hysteric and impulsive but falling and fatal fours and sixes??
Fourthly, when it comes to bowling in such form of exhilarating World Cup cricket, it is nagging line and length that counts for speedsters, seamers and spinners alike. But what can accurate bowling do amid fielding loopholes, dropped catches, lack of confidence and commitment???
Fifthly, now something extremely difficult and almost impossible indeed? Can some patriotically feeling and realizing faltering and blundering cases of national cricket voluntarily quit in the supreme national interest with most urgent and very insightful stop-gap solutions within the same setup?!
Importantly, amid humility and with heads down respect, the shouting match of our learned experts, specialists, commentators and gurus of cricket need to be selflessly and sincerely toned down and transformed into a harmonious blend of emotional maturity, seriousness of purpose, penetrative thinking, mutual respect and such guru-like simple, logical, compelling and winning solutions expected of none but our distinguished trend-setting gurus of the game.
