“I FELT LIKE A ROCK STAR!”
Feels like the Indo-Pak series all over again
By Gaurav Sethi

Bar Bar Dekho!
All it would take was a cricket match – and I would smuggle myself out of office - through the back door- two flights down - right through this bar’s service window/door – to see the most incredible images on their 29” TVs. (this was before Akai made a travesty of 29” TVs). Think they had three of them big screens. And they always packed cricket. Always at an impolite volume, thank you very much.

Since the staff were all hardcore cricket fanatics, I would watch over after over without budging or ever buying a drink to justify my presence. Often, they indulged me with their bizarre cricket anecdotes; mostly concerning Indo-Pak players who were regulars there.

The day after Kumble’s ten wickets, the entire staff was ecstatic – recalling the sharp reactions of Pakistani players to the match highlights. Apparently, one poet of a player bellied up to the bar alleging Kumble had done something to his mother…and “ don’t rub it in, change the channel”. Another time, I was enthralled with invaluable details about the dress and drink code of some players. I finally had a fix on players who hung out in crumpled pathan suits and those who made waves in tight jeans and Ts. Wow.

After countless such inconsequential details, I learnt one day that the restaurant owner had been taken in for questioning by the CBI sleuths. The allegations: betting and match fixing. This affected me personally as the staff totally closed up – on occasion they even closed the service window/door (or maybe that was my imagination) – so I started watching cricket in the electronics shop downstairs – on an even bigger TV. But I sure did miss those anecdotes like nobody’s business.

Rawalpindi- da-Rock Star!
Shoaib Akhtar might have the most hybrid accent on earth, but you can’t deny the guy rocks. On a Rendezvous with Simi G, he waxed eloquent about the dream delivery that clean bowled Sachin Tendulkar for a duck and stunned Eden Gardens into “pin drop silence”.

Akhtar’s narrative was almost Dan Brownesque – starting with his 6thsense-like-belief that he was gonna make that ball count – followed by his run-away run-up – the release of the ball - the magical yorker – and boom! Tendulkar clean bowled. At that precise moment Shoaib Akhtar declares, “I felt like a Rock Star”. Grin-grin-grin.

That might have been 1999 (and though in-between there’ve been uppercut sixes by Sachin and Sehwag (2003 World Cup) and the last home series debacle - the new improved Shoaib is feigning less and doing more. Better still, Bob Woolmer isn’t preaching shorter run-ups nor is Inzamam or the Paki Board doubting his intent. In fact, even Shoaib looks as if he’s finally at peace with himself.

Think, when was the last time Shoaib did something really weird? The prodigal has returned – and this time it’s not in an E series Mercedes with NRPPs (Non resident Pakistani Pals) from London. Nor is he laying siege on Pakistani grounds in big CC-ed bikes. He’s intense without being aloof. And as he begins to run-in in Lahore– look out Dravid and look out Sachin; it may not be the 100 mph delivery he’s striving for – it could be the slower one that flummoxed many an Englishman. Fee Fi Fo Fum!

Run-ins and Run-outs!

After Sehwag’s successes, Afridi was one unhappy bunny. Not that it affected him personally, but in Veeru’s success, Shahid viewed his own missed opportunities. Afridi felt that they were both similar batsmen; but Sehwag could play his natural game as the Indian team management backed him fully. Where as Afridi has played only 20 tests since 1998 making 1290 runs @ 35.8, Sehwag has played 39 tests since 2001 making 3320 runs @ 53.5. Afridi’s bitterness has often led to run-ins with the establishment and teammates (ignoring stand-in skipper Younis Khan’s instructions to pad-up). The moody Pathan even scraped his boots on the pitch surface to earn a ban. Geoff Boycott said of him, “there are more brains in a chocolate mouse.”

In spite of his past misdemeanors, today, Afridi is coming of age as an aggressive batsmen (backed by Woolmer and Inzi) and a more than useful legbreak bowler. His spat with Younis Khan is long forgotten (but for this article). The match-fixing ghost appears to have been put to rest. Every new season doesn’t throw a new captain or coach. Even the likes of Sarfraz Nawaz and Rashid Latif haven’t cut lose with their conspiracy theories. And the debate over Yousuf Youhana embracing Islam and becoming Mohammad Yousuf never really got any takers. In fact, there exists today a strange unfamiliar calm in Pakistani cricket. Inzamam-ul-Haq has been unstoppable off late - scoring twin centuries at Faisalabad (against England), going past Miandad as Pakistan's leading century-maker and joining him as only the second Pakistani with 8000 Test runs. Looks like India will need some sharp shooters if they want to stop him. Think another run-out. Will Inzi oblige once again?

Shahid Afridi

Tests
ODIs
Matches
20
214
Runs scored
1290
4727
Batting average
35.83
24.11
100s/50s
3/7
4/26
Top score
141
109
Overs bowled
388.1
1370.1
Wickets
39
175
Bowling average
30.48
36.53
5 wickets in innings
1
2
10 wickets in match
0
N/A
Best bowling
5/43
5/11
Catches/stumpings
9/0
79/0




Virender Sehwag

Tests
ODIs
Matches
39
139
Runs scored
3320
4148
Batting average
53.54
32.15
100s/50s
10/10
7/19
Top score
309
130
Overs bowled
101.3
489.2
Wickets
3
66
Bowling average
126.33
39.45
5 wickets in innings
0
0
10 wickets in match
0
N/A
Best bowling
1/17
3/25
Catches/stumpings
35/0
57/0