The belief that ‘what was bred in the
marrow does indeed come out of
the bat’, highlighted in Shaharyar Khan’s
The role of politics in Pakistani cricket, and its
reflection in society
recent book ‘Cricket Cauldron: The Turbulent
Politics of Sports in Pakistan’, makes one
wonder whether this extended from the
individual to the nation. Does cricket also reflect
a nation’s character – its history, its personality,
its culture, its social make-up, its insecurities, its
politics, its religious commitments? Shaharyar
Khan, the ex-chairman of PCB (Pakistan Cricket
Board) points out: ‘The idea that sports is
reflective of society – that what is present in
society (religion, ethnic divisions, class
distinctions, nationalistic zeal) will find its way
into sports – is not new. Ever since C. L. R.
James’s seminal account of cricket in the West
Indies, the idea that cricket intimates society has
been in place. Cricket, more than any other
game, reflects the political, social and economic
environment of a country. The West Indians are
aggressive – like gladiators - brash and
immensely colorful. They reflect the huge talent
and panache of the Caribbean people. The
Australians are frank, truculent and openhearted. The English are cautious, low-key and
disciplined. India’s image has changed along
with its global image. Once the epitome of the
colonial gentleman - elegant, exotic but genial the team has changed alongside India’s rise as
an economic powerhouse’. The Sri Lankans,
well, for them cricket is religion.
By Omair Ahmed Soomro
Writing on the power and influence of cricket as
a sport, Sir John Major states:
‘It can uplift whole communities – whole nations
even – or cast them down. And because cricket
is played largely in the mind, and reflects society
from which the cricketers spring, it can imprint
the character of that nation indelibly upon the
minds of those who watch the way in which a
national team plays.’
However, cricket is not simply reflective of
society but has other prominent qualities as well.
The events on a cricket field make a statement
Historical roots
At the turn of the century cricket, reflected
in India a mirror image of the class
differences that existed on the cricket field
in England. The cricket matches between
the colonial masters and the communal
teams served as a reflection of the anticolonial struggle in British India and the
political environment of the time. As Cricket
was the only sport in India at which the
English could demonstrate their superiority,
the communal teams aimed to defeat them
to make a political point: they were ready
for self-rule. Similarly, the intense
communal matches between Hindus and
Muslims before the partition of India in
1947, reflected the desperate political
tensions of the time and were largely “a
product of politics not of sport” in the words
of Vijay Merchant.
Traditionally, a Pakistan-India cricket
series has been seen as a rivalry that goes
beyond the cricketing arena even though
the founder of Pakistan,
Mohammad Ali
Jinnah, had conceived a US- Canada type
of friendship between India and Pakistan. It
reflects the political relationship between
the
two
neighbors,
which
since
independence in August 1947 had been
tense and confrontational. An added
complicating factor has been the relatively
recent phenomenon of religious extremism
and terrorism that has led to most foreign
cricket teams declining to tour Pakistan
because of security concerns. The
disgusting terrorist attack on the Sri
Lankan team by the Taliban materialized
the fears and cast a deep shadow across
Pakistan’s political spectrum.
The birth of a
controversial
image
Shahid Afridi bats in the 2009 T20 world cup
final. Pakistan went on to win the tournament.
Source: Wikipedia commons.
Pakistan’s lack of
discipline
has
become part of its
defining
feature.
This
criticism
began with biased
umpiring
and
gathered
momentum
with
accusations of ball
tampering, matchand spot fixing,
boorish anti-social
behavior,
indiscipline, drug
abuse and petty
cheating such as
deliberately
scuffing up the pitch or claiming catches
that had clearly been grounded. These
controversial acts have
given Pakistan the tag of ugly ducklings of
international cricket. And yet a cl