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Shoaib
Akhtar -- From
the chairman's box A
no-win situation
everything that can go wrong will! Shahid Afridi is not terribly confident taking a star-free team to England. He is desperate to have Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf back, regardless of their issues with the Pakistan Cricket Board. By Dr Nauman Niaz Shoaib Akhtar is back in international cricket; even in the best of lives there will be times, now and again, when, everything that can go wrong will, such troublesome times must be endured with dignity, with courage, and with the understanding that tomorrow is another day. Akhtar rose to prominence in 1997 with his scorching
speed and the ability to leave top batsmen in shreds in international
cricket. Triggered by the makeshift captain Aamir Sohail at Kingsmead at
Durban in 1998, he picked 5-43, and the critiques thought Akhtar was one
from the top drawer, presumably Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis's true
inheritor, though more frequently, he thought he was bigger than anyone
even Imran Khan, and denied connecting or referring to the 'traditional
lineage'. Everyone thought they understood Akhtar and none actually did? Self-destructive, self-inflictive, impetuous, connected to impulsiveness or impatience, disdainful, careless, not having proper regard for consequences, hobbling down stairs with heedless haste, he could set his foot full in a pail of water. He bowled brilliantly in the 1999 World Cup in England, the precipitate suggested impulsiveness and lack of due reflection, he virtually erupted on the globe though he was often marred by sudden paroxysms of anger and impetuosity, so common with fast bowlers, the likes of Harlod Larwood, Freddie Trueman, Chester Watson, Charlie Griffith, even Wesley Hall. What went wrong with Akhtar; simply a victim of unattended frailties in 'human' behaviour. Aggression is a familiar term in cricket's common parlance, as well as a key concept in the study of human behaviour, but if it goes overbroad, it could be defined as a person assaulting another, a carnivorous animal seeking prey, even a storm wreaking havoc on the earth it passes. In human psychology, aggression is defined as intent to harm another or being self-inflictive in a paranoid state. More specifically in Akhtar's case unsustained aggression was not part of his model behaviour as he contemplated at the start of his career being fully convinced that he was a rollicking superstar, a fast bowler from the top-tier and his self-grandeur and self-possession to the point of sub normality and delusive characterisation. His sequence of behaviour, the goal response to which was the self-inflictive injury and he didn't know towards whom his aggression was directed. It was mostly a conceptual challenge. Akhtar's own imagination was like a huge star caressing the apex of the world but in relativity, his performances didn't really correlate to his sense of grandiosity as well as his natural and raw talent. He had speed, stamina and the attitude to develop into a genuine spearhead but off the cuff, misdirected and misguided he landed into a plethora of problems including use of artificial forces to enhance his endurance and mask his injuries, junky like style, hair style completely out of date, not even close to the hard-rock metal band legends and having an innate drive toward disintegration that I believe was directed against the self. He did everything only managing to omit suicide from his long list of attitudinal issues. His emotional reliability and mental discipline was displaced, the displacement redirected his self-destructive energies outward, and he aggressed against others to avoid aggressing against his own self. He, as evidenced, imagined that he was the greatest ever fast bowler, superseding the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Imran Khan, Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis to name a few, convinced in his imagination and mostly attempting to avoid empathic self-analysis, as he didn't achieve what his predecessors had done to genuinely transcend to the world stage. In Tests he picked 5-43 against South Africa at Durban, 5-75 vs Sri Lanka at Peshawar in 1999, 5-24 against the West Indies at Sharjah in 2002, 5-25 vs Australia at Colombo in 2002, 6-11 vs New Zealand at Lahore in 2002, 6-50 vs Bangladesh at Peshawar in 2003, 5-48 against New Zealand at Wellington and 6-30 in the second innings of the same match at the Basin Reserve in 2003, 5-60 vs Sri Lanka at Faisalabad in 2004, 5-99 against Australia at Perth in 2004, 5-109 vs Australia at Melbourne in 2004 and 5-71 Vs England at Lahore in 2005. In One-day Internationals his top performances were 5-19 vs New Zealand at Karachi in 2001, 6-16 against New Zealand at Karachi in 2002, 5-25 Vs Australia at Brisbane in 2002 and 5-54 against England at Lahore in 2005 and his contributions for Pakistan came to an abrupt pause. Mostly, Akhtar did things, punching Bob Woolmer or hurling a bat at Mohammad Asif was part of his uncontrolled or substance induced aggression, just a 'struggle for existence'. And I need to contemplate that he was doing all the forlorn things as part of the struggle which I think drove evolution forward, the competition between teammates. His own insecurities made him feel that everyone was plotting against him and the paranoid further slithered him into isolation and non-existence. The problem with Akhtar was his contradictions; the cultural and technological advances outstripped the inhibitory capacities of his aggressive instinct. Perpetually, he lived in self-denial and was lost to the delusive world of imagination; he lost touch with reality and little realized that being overtly anti-social could impede his growth as a player. Recently, Akhtar travelled with me from Karachi to Islamabad and I could see a definitive physical change, the liposuction and hardcore training had done wonders, he looked in shape and power? What about the attitude? I have known him since he was a HSSC student at Rawalpindi's famous olden Asghar Mall College and I have been witness to his eagerness to grow and then envisioning the panoramic view, from a distance him annexing fame and then floundering it on the roadside to be left in wilderness, condemned and abominated. This time, there was a subtle change in him; his aggression mellowed tended to move from innate predispositions to external stimuli as its source. The central supposition which I could make was that his aggression now was mellowed, though the defined stimuli being frustration. Now it could be said that the 'occurrence of aggressive behaviour presupposed the existence of frustration and that the existence of frustration could lead to some form of aggression'. He has definitely grown into maturity but the sleek recklessness still remains part of his over-optimistic and overrated debonair. Is all aggression the result of frustration? 'Does every frustration lead to some form of aggression? Keeping in view Akhtar's recent return to international cricket, I try concluding by supporting that the essential validity of my arguments is in order to shed light on his modifications, and I use two intervening variables: anger and interpretation. To my mind, in case of Akhtar, every frustration increases the instigation to aggression, but this instigation now in his case is the real 'anger' combined with 'regret' and conscious self-control. There are appropriate cues or releasers. Now, if he manages to sustain his comeback to the Pakistan colours, it has to be done allowing him the space to learn that expressing anger by aggressing is inappropriate and therefore be less likely to aggress even when the frustrating stimulus is intense. Additionally, he still had that visible sense of grandiosity, as he imagined and correlated with what he could achieve, 'captaining Pakistan and leading it to the World Cup 2011 glory'? Delusions were still there. It seems most unlikely that he would be able to endure the rigors and pressures of international cricket, and that too being led by another wild, uproarious, unimaginative and a captain not ready to take blames, rather shifting them intriguingly to other factors. Akhtar is back, why has he been picked is clearly evident that Shahid Afridi is not terribly confident taking a star-free team to England? He is desperate to have Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzak, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, regardless of their issues with the Pakistan Cricket Board and within; he wants to avoid annihilation and that's, as interpreted, a selfish cause? If Akhtar delivers, Afridi and the PCB would take the credit or otherwise, he will be persecuted! That's how it shows?
By Naila Inayat Ijaz Butt has made headlines often in the recent past
-- be it his famous response to Jamshed Dasti, or his answer to the
media queries at the occasion of Younis Khan's resignation: "Koi
nahin yaar, mein mana lawan ga (I'll convince him...)" or mimicking
Mohammad Yousuf over the controversial pledging on the Holy Quran. More
recently, at a press conference at NCA Mr Chairman decided to check
Shahid Afridi's vibrating phone to see who was on the other end -- more
like a parent's reaction than a Broad President's conduct. 'The News on Sunday' recently caught up with the 72-year-old PCB chairman for an interview. Here are some excerpts. The News on Sunday: You're not much of a spectator's favourite when it comes to cricket followers in Pakistan. Have some of your decisions made you unpopular? Ijaz Butt: Favourite? I don't want to be a favourite. I know I'm not a favourite with the media. But frankly I'm not bothered at all as long as my conscience is clear. I strongly believe I'm doing the right thing. If I wanted I could easily become a favourite like my predecessor. TNS: Speaking of your predecessor. Like Naseem Ashraf complained -- is it because of your affiliation with the current president that you get a lot of opposition? IB: I am not a political man and I have never indulged in politicking. Yes I have been part of the cricket electoral process and contested many elections, though it was restricted to Lahore. The point is, the media sensationalises whatever I say. I don't believe in criticising past Boards but there were problems not only with Ashraf but some of his subordinates too. One should go through the data, which is now available online too. The audit general has audited the last 5-year period and the records speak for themselves. Surrey initiated a fund worth three million rupees for development in the quake-hit areas. Recently I was in England where an official of Surrey told me that the PCB (then management) never gave any details to the county. Because of their attitude Surrey bunged up the fund. TNS: How do you review your 20-month-performance? IB: Board's performance is reviewed through its national team. We are always compared with India. What is the status of the Indian team today? India did not win the Champions Trophy; they lost to us. At the Word T20 Indians didn't even qualify for the semis, they lost all three matches in the Super8, but the green-shirts played with determination to make it to the semis. When I took over we had the first series in Abu Dhabi, we won the three match series 3-0 against the West Indies. Since then problems increased specially after the attack on the Sri Lankan team in March last after which international teams refused to visit Pakistan due to the security situation in the country. Our under-19 team played so well no one remembers that we won the U-19 World cup, we have memory lapses and we easily forget our other achievements. There is a need to understand that we are evolving. If you don't put together proper replacements for seniors, later it hits the team hard. TNS: Who is to be blamed for the great debacle in the twin tours? IB: Yes, we had a problem in New Zealand and Australia. It was a dismal performance worsened by the bad behaviour of some of the players. I have tried to rectify that by taking the entire responsibility of the defeat. The board punished those involved and we saw the results in the West Indies -- there was a stark difference between both the performances -- one could see by the body language of the players. TNS: But the inquiry committee's word wasn't kept for long. Why this sudden change of heart for those whom Intikhab Alam declared 'mentally retarded'? IB: Who says that we have detracted on the committee's decision? We are not inconsistent in our decision making. There are two factors to it: some quarters asked us to review our decisions, which we out-rightly denied saying that the board would stick to its decision. Someone called for lifting the ban from one key player. I put my foot down and made it clear that there would be no discrimination; either we lifted the ban on all or none. Then on May 24 we had a meeting with the standing committee on sports. I have attended many meetings in the last one and half years, and let me tell you this was the most positive of them. TNS: Maybe because Jamshed Dasti was missing? IB: (he smiles) Oh I have never wished ill for anybody. The committee headed by Iqbal Mohmmad Ali asked if we could review the verdict. I agreed to review it under my discretion. Now all this has not surfaced somewhere else but it is for the first time I'm giving you the details. I agreed to recommend to the judge heading the inquiry tribunal, to see to our requests. Younis Khan had no fine to his name but a ban for an indefinite period -- we have exonerated him -- as of now there is no ban on Younis. Moving on; Shoaib Malik's ban has been cleared and the fine has been cut down to Rs one million. Similarly, the Akmal brothers' fines have been reduced to Rs 1.5 million and one million. TNS: About Younis and Yousuf you once said: "When one was the captain he threw the other out, when the other was the captain he threw the other man (Malik) out in spite of the fact that they would have been selectedî What makes you think that these players have transformed in a span of few months Mr Chairman? IB: Hmm... It didn't take two to tango -- It was a troubling troika -- Younis, Yousuf and Shoaib Malik. Let me narrate to you an interesting story. In Sri Lanka during the test series against the home side. Malik asks Yousuf: You haven't included me in the team? Yousuf replies: No Shoaib I am giving you a rest for this match. Malik gets back at him: I have the top average, the best performance and fitness. Why are you sidelining me? I didn't come here on foot I came by air with you! Now this is one such instance that I am quoting. There have been countless cases. Time and again we told them to conduct themselves appropriately but they wouldn't listen. I have confidence in Shahid Afridi that he will handle them well but that confidence comes with strict instructions to immediately send back anyone who misbehaves. There is going to be a zero-tolerance policy from now on. TNS: Be it Aaqib Javed, Intikhab Alam, Jamshed Dasti or Haroon Akhtar; everyone speaks of match-fixing allegations. What is the actual situation? IB: There is no reality in these allegations Haroon Akhtar wanted the PCB to oblige a contractor who owes Rs40million to the board. They had 'good' relations with the previous boards the likes of Shafqat Naghmi, etc. The contractor had scammed both PCB and the Ittefaq foundries. On refusing the deal the senator walked out threatening me with match fixing. In the entire meeting not even once was the term 'match fixing' mentioned. Today I say if anyone, anywhere has any concrete evidence he should provide it to us. The video-leakage from the inquiry committee's meetings was also a huge blunder on part of the staff. These AVs were confidential and it was not supposed to be given out like this. We are not party to this, match fixing is purely an ICC-subject, they have their own anticorruption unit which works independently. In the dressing room, except for the manager no one is allowed to keep a cell phone. ICC has given its final verdict on the New Zealand and Australia tour that there was no match fixing. TNS: There is a perception that your criteria of appointments is more personal than professional. Yawar Saeed, Intikhab Alam, Saleem Altaf, Mohmmad Naeem and Shireen Javed have all been chosen from your close circle. IB: It is only Yawar Saeed who is close. I have known him for the last 50 years. I didn't bring him in PCB, in fact in the last 10 years Saeed has served as manager with all the boards and he has done extremely well. When some created a fuss, I replaced him with Abdul Raqeeb for the twin tours. On their return the manager was asked to give a detailed report which he did and it was fine. But when he went in front of the inquiry committee, he just flipped, blaming everyone across the board. What could the board have done? We couldn't have continued with the same man. We had to bring Yawar back. TNS: Is the PCB trying to organise any international event in Pakistan this year? IB: I'm hopeful that we would be able to have some cricket next year. We are trying to start playing with India even if its offshore.
By Fahd Saud Bajwa All banned players must thank Shoaib Malik, whose acquittal opened the doors for everyone involved in misdemeanor. It can never be constitutional process, where the self made appellate committee is constituted to pave ways for fulfillment of ones own avarice. PCB had to wave off or allay the punishment of all players to include Malik in the squad. According to PCB insiders, board chairman Ijaz Butt
was under tremendous pressure to lift the ban on Malik and also to
reduce the fine imposed on him following the recommendations of an
inquiry commission, which was formed to look into the reason behind
Pakistan's deplorable performance during the tour Down Under. This will not do any sort of good for Pakistan cricket, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi can never reconcile with Shoaib after found bashing Shoaib Malik's attitude in one of the leaked videos of inquiry committee. Afridi also censured Malik's negative attitude with Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Yousuf and himself during past series. However, Mohammad Yousuf is not ready to play under current PCB setup, as he understands chairman's clear predisposition towards Shoaib Malik. There is an all out chaos, Yawar Saeed who was main protagonist in getting the pledge on Holy Quran against Younis, now he is again associated with the team. Yousuf realises that when the odds are against you its better to stay away. I was fully confident of ban's reversal the moment these bans were imposed 4 months back and that's exactly what has happened. Initially as much as three million rupee penalty was imposed on players which have now been slashed, Life ban on Younis is fully was imposed on players which have now been slashed, Life ban on Younis is fully overturned. If match-fixing is a bigger felony than ball biting and creating disharmony in the team or ball biting is a bigger offence than disciplinary issues then Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Afridi were beaten by feather-whip and Younis was hard done by. We had to be little more realistic in imposing the ban and would have made it sure these bans fully reach home. By taking this votle-face PCB has lost all credibility. They can take the leaf from BCCI where Harbhajan Singh was fined rupees 30 million for IPL 1 misconduct and BCCI ensured its realization. This looks like a no-win situation for Pakistan cricket especially under the current management. The only way we can be a successful outfit in future is to have a captain fully backed by the board and have the power to hire and fire the team without being distressed by the so-called player power. Shahid Afridi has tough times ahead as he faces some tough challenges. Good luck Afridi! |
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