Pakistan lost to India in the world cup semi final. I cried when Misbah was caught out, it was the nail in an inevitable coffin that me and my friend Danial saw coming when we exchanged a glance at the fall of Afridi's wicket, with a barely noticeable nod. I saw a nation in stunned silence! No one believed it, how could we lose?
For thirty short days, leading up to a climax of 8 sort hours, a nation that has been divided by our own insecurities became one. We all had one identity, we were no longer mohajirs, pathans, punjabis etc we were all Pakistanis, we bled and cried the colour green. It was a feeling of one-ness that our leaders have failed spectacularly to bring us. Afridi and the boys, actually achieved the impossible. They united us, briefly, but united us. It is a feeling I already miss. It is because of that feeling that we have been gentle with the team.
Conspiracy theories started flowing in and I'm still hearing a new one every day. It gives new meaning to the idiom, "jitnay moun, utni baatain" (many mouths, as many stories). I've heard them all, from simple match fixing, to God punishing us for letting Raymond Davis go.
Quite frankly, I've had it. No one seems to be saying that India just played better. The batting lineups were evenly matched, so were the bowling lineups. It was a clash of equals, titans. But, please notice Pakistan gave away 18 extras, India just gave away 2. Pakistan dropped 6 catches, India dropped none.
Discipline was the only difference between the teams. India just did one thing right... they played like professionals. If Pakistan had held on to the balls hit their way and not given away so many wides and no balls, Pakistan would have cruised to a victory. India just played better cricket. Their team had more experienced players in Tendulkar and Sehwag, men who know how not to crack under pressure.
The point is they MUST be doing something right. Even if it is fixing a match or two without getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
It's hight time we put all the conspiracy theories to rest. The clearly have not been working for us at all. We need to figure out what India is doing right as a nation, and we need to figure out how to beat them at it instead of just pointing fingers. We as a nation need to stop with the bullshit and do our jobs. The cleaner needs to clean the best way possible, the policeman needs to start policing and honouring his oath, the executive need to execute with dignity, the politician needs to do his own job. In short we need to start being honest with our professions and stop looking for someone to blame.
It is very simple when you look at it, we need to do the task awarded to us with honour. No two ways about it, we need to start owning up to our own flaws and start taking on the world. Only then will we be able to bring home the gold, not just in cricket, but in every field.
Afridi was the one who led me to this realization, the team reignited my love for cricket (with a little help from Danial). I don't blame the team for losing and I congratulate every Indian for the win. Your team played like a unit, and it was a well deserved win. To the Pakistani team, I say you united the nation behind you, however, there is no column for 'moral victory', either you win or you lose. This time you lost, but we are expecting the trophy in Karachi in 2015. Time to shake it off, figure out what went wrong and make sure that it never goes wrong again.
Please win the upcoming T20 world cup, I want the high you gave me again, and don't forget to take India to the cleaners in 2012!
Go Greens!
Z
