The words of Fyodor Dostoevsky, “man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his happiness” echo as we witness Pakistan heroically defeating Bangladesh 3-0 in T20 Internationals and 2-0 in Test series while we dwell over the depressing news of galloping inflation and rising crime.
The emphatic win over Bangladesh was a product of the skipper’s leadership style, some great teamwork and the finesse of world class players, the likes of which are Sajid Khan and Abid Ali. Sajid Khan, who recently joined the team in April 2021, managed to bag a whopping eight wickets in the first innings of the second Test (at Dhaka) and made it to the elite list of Pakistani bowlers with an exemplary performance. In the second innings, he bagged four more wickets. Thus, his figures were 12/128, making it the 10th best in Tests for Pakistan. This is not all. The star of the show was Abid Ali who was awarded the player of the series as he finished with an average of 87.66 runs.
Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh in a conclusive victory by an innings and eight runs in the second Test at Dhaka and lifted the trophy. As a result, Pakistan’s position in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) was strengthened as it moved up a place and is now in second position just after Sri Lanka which stands at first, and just before India which stands at third. Pakistan improved their percentage of points (PCT) from 66.66% to 75% while Bangladesh’s dismal show of performance has made it certain that it languishes on the last place of the table.
This world class performance from the green caps in the recent cricketing events (in all three formats) have unequivocally shown that Pakistan carries a sheer amount of talent which has attracted the naysayers to come play the gentleman’s game in our den. A four-member delegation from Cricket Australia has arrived in Pakistan to check the security arrangements in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad prior to the team’s scheduled tour in April of next year.
Thus, in all fairness, and seriously avoiding any complacency, it is the manifestation of the soulful words of the great Muhammad Ali, “only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even”, as international cricket was once seen to be a distant dream in the land of the pure but thanks to the resilience of this great nation, it is once again considered indispensable to cricket.
