Imran Khan claims 'culture of fear' caused Pakistan's ills

SOURCE - The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sp...icle1577407.ece




I don't think Imran Khan will ever proactivley take an intrests in taking on the responsibilty of improving our side, athough he will jump at the chance of telling the world that he knows best.

Imran is right. He talks a lot of sense. Inzamam did make the team defensive and fearful.

That's called expert consulting and directioning. Now he cannot take up an official job at PCB because he is engaged in something far bigger than cricket - politics where he can serve the nation and help improve the fortunes of the country better.

People are always wise after the event.
What did his "future captain" YK do in the WC 2007
I suppose it was Inzy fault for the poor shot selection by the Pakistan batsman.
Inzy's fault when YK dropped Sarwan when WI would have been 7/2 and his pull shot were all Inzy's fault.
When your are a poltician you jump on the bandwagon, look at Tony Blair ( UK PM) when the Eng won the ashes they were invited to the PM residences but when they lost 5-0 the PM did not even mention or wanted to be associated with failure.

It's bash Inzy time now.

That was the Program which Ramiz hosted with the Lums students asking questions. Inzamam was pretty disturbed when Imran pointed out that fact.

Better late than never I suppose. It's been evident for quite a while that Woolmer, being a foreign coach, took all the flak and wielded less power. I think Inzi's influence expanded considerably after Miandad's replacement with Woolmer.

Personally I am surprised that Inzamam never gave Bob some say in selections and team strategies.

Inzi was NOT gonna let BOB run fings.. Inzi was the legend.. Inzi was gonna do it HIS way or No way.

same as Imran in his days.. Imran was ruthless too.. opposed the board on many occasions.. sometimes IT works sometimes it doesnt!

I think that y Inzi put his hands up and said its all my fault and quit.. U cant get more honourable then that.

Imran (OR his words) are becoming more typical of the 'i told u so' ideology. I just hope he either is constructive or doesnt share his views.

READING imran saying Inzi is stupid, and doesnt have a brain for strategy etc is going to INFLUENCE the readers MORE than say a journalist. Imran should be more careful in the words he uses.

Spot on. He has hit the nail on the head. We lack the fear factor, opponents do not run scared of our unpredicatability anymore.

Its quite sad, as a fan I can clearly observe this without having to do sensational analysing.

Perhaps Javed Miandad needs to be bought back to instill this, I am well aware of the extra baggage that he will caryy.

Spot On.. After all this is what Imran did (with better results? Can some one put the percentage of wins by Imran in ODI and Test Cricket and compare them to Inzamam). Though Imran had more leadership skills, and had probably more support from the board, still his leadership was dictatorial in nature, however since he won the worldcup in 92, hence all is forgiven and forgotton.

exactly! the world cup win made people forget he was a bachelor, a playboy.. dated loadsa women, probably even had a glass of champers or two.. etc

It was absolutely great he was captain of the winning team and a person is allowed to change for the better.. but one should not forget their own past and act like they are 100% pure n clean

EVERY captain makes decisions.. thats WHY they are captain! but sayin he stupid etc etc is very harsh
ALSO since Inzi is not a man of words, he cant retaliate to defend himself in the papers etc..
One always picks on people that are weak, to strenghten their own position.

I don't know I mean everything sounsd easier on hindsight

Not just the WC. Pak winning the WC under Imran's brilliant leadership was just the pinnacle of his illustrious career. Imran is indisputably the greatest cricketer ever from Sub-Continent and our most famous sportsman. What he did in his free time is his own domain. Maulvis can discuss it and say taubah taubah, but cricket fans should not. On the field, he gave cent per cent and extracted the same from other team members through sheer example and magnificent motivation. The fact that he took the team to such dizzy heights means he is remembered in such aura and respect by the nation.



Many who know him personally, including one of his ex, have commented that Imran was never a drinker.

He is also a mega hypocrite - talking about Islam etc when he indulged in all things in his career that were UNIslamic . He may have done things in his own time but they were splashed on the pages of papers - that makes it public and a bad example for Muslim youth.

People seem to forget that cricket fans are also Muslims - so it does matter what kind of person represents us on field of play.

Apart from that, he seems incorruptible in the political sense - which is a good thing but thats a matter for another thread.

Well! What about Inzamam then, who talks Islam all the time but was a mega womanizer during his Multan team days?

This is the problem with the team and even some fans now. We have forgotten it's a sport and are fascinated by the private lives of the players. Inzamam is getting the rap for his failure as a skipper, and to cater for the latter category of fans he is a hypocrite too waving the religion flag NOW when his own past has been quite UNislamic and colorful. A daarhee (beard) does not change all.

At least Imran does not go around preaching to be the ambassador of Islam, and has never been involved or associated in selling the country for a few bucks.

inzi a player?? wow that woulda been a sight to see.. i neva heard of that

That's the irony of it. Badd acha badnaam bura. A man keeps a big beard and talks of Islam at every opportunity in front of the TV is taken to be a humble and religious man straightaway by the gullible. Gullible because they have not even met the man or know of his earlier life through his friends of yester years. I , though, have been told by at least a couple of his Multan team-mates on FC circuit of his "other" side.

OTher side is history bro.. WHICH man beard or not, does not think he a player??

i think we going on a tangent though bro.

We not saying Imran or Inzi are this or that... just saying MANS of their status need to be careful about what and HOW they say things.. it influences the readers in a bad/good way

but anyways. its lunchtime.. i feel like i got Inzi's belly today.. well hungry- in a bit

Farhad - if Inzi is a womanizer ( and I am shocked to hear that - I would like some proof which in Imrans case lies in Sita Whites daughter) then I would roundly condemn him as well.

And Imran does talk about Islamic values etc - I am sure I can dig up some articles on how he talks about the Islamic world etc - and Imran is looking to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan - so he will be representing you and me as Muslims one day. Hypocricy doenst come in any other name Farhad.

Well, but then in how many instances someone's womanizing can be proven beyond doubt? Even in Sita Whiote case, NOTHING has been proven in court of law. what i've come to know from Inzi's ex-team mates of Multan I have no reason to doubt as the accounts to me are consistent across the individuals making them. One should take it or leave it.





He is not saint, MIG, and for that matter nobody is. Right from Jinnah to Musharraf, we haven't had a single leader who can say they have always upheld Islamic values. You can look for such examples in the Middle East too and would struggle to find paragons of moral Islamic excellence. Does that mean that those individuals should never aspire to become leaders and should not give their advice to youth? Imran has done tremendous philanthropic work for the nation, and can hold his head high when it comes to talking about serving the people.

I guess you didn't read the article and didn't understand the title


This is the most interesting part of the article

Why are you guys after Imran Khan. As an ex-cricketer he has every right to pass comments. And he has said the right thing. Earlier Pakistan teams used to instill fear in the opposition. Have you heard Ian Healy saying Australia was scared of only playing Pakistan. This Pakistan team even Bangladesh would fancy thei chances, atleast not fear Pakistan.

Imran Khan cannot jump into the cricketing structure on his own. He has to be invited by the board for that. Then he can give it a thought.He has never promised anything like this.

He is very right in what he says.

When I saw the title, I thought he has seen the light of day and is coming out to accept responsability...

But it is all same Bakwaas as usual from a senile Hero of the past!

Was it not Imran, Zaheer, and every Maajha, Saajha, and Gaama...who was criticizing the team like they were 'Professional Killers' or something, even right before the start of the WC...

Don't you think that kind of attitude adds to the 'culture of fear'...what do you think about that Mr. I know it All?

Was it not your job to accept the fact the team was finalized and now it was time to get behind them, rather them blasting them like crazy?

“I can never be part of cricket again,” he said, “but I can give you my views.”

Imran is Spot on. He has never admired Inzi as captain and we all very well know that Inzi lacks Leadership. It was really shocking to hear from Inzi the way he described Woolmer role in cricket. Inzi has been running things like a Dictator, rather than him realizing his shortcomings on the leadership side and taking advise from Woolmer. Inzi might be one of the greatest batsman in Pakistani Cricket alongside with Miandad but he is for sure not a legend. I always would rate Miandad a better batsman than Inzi.

As far as why Imran doesn’t take over the Board’s chairmanship I guess what he is doing is lot more noble and important than Cricket. Being a legend ge has all the right to criticize anyone in Cricket.

If we care so much about our players setting a good example as Islamic role models, then let's just grab a bunch of mullahs and put them in the team.

Personally I would rather focus on a player's ability and performance and professionalism regarding the cricket itself. I don't care if he's a womaniser in his private life. Likewise I don't care how religious he is in his private life. Both are fine so long as they don't interfere with the cricket.

Yes, he was indeed disturbed. But I think credit to him for being so disturbed when Imran attacked Woolmer. The easy thing to do wouldve been to let Woolmer take the blame, whether or not he deserved it. But he didnt do so did he? as always he took the heat on himself, as he does when the team failes.

I bet you if Immy K had been praising the team selection (yeah good luck with that!), Inzi wouldve said the credit must go to Bob and the selectors. That is just the kind of person he is. anyone who cant see that must be blind.

Here are some statistics comparing Imran and Inzamam (I hope i didn't get them wrong, someone correct me if this is the case)

Test P W L T D
*Imran Khan 48 14 8 0 26
*Inzamam-ul-Haq 31 11 11 0 9
Inzamam Win % 35.48
Imran Win % 29.1

What has MIG been smoking cos i want some of it!
MIG , these people are not ur kids, they are professional cricketers whose work u take an avid interest in. I doubt u have never commited a sin so before throwing the book at anyone please look at yourself. Wether they are womanising or drinking is NOT YOUR business, just how they play their cricket as they are making money out of r obsession with the sport.
As for Inzy, yes, just like mushy, he was very unislamic back in the day, but does it really matter what he did in his private life, does it suddenly change his cricketing ability

You have obviously missed the context of my post. Good luck in your next assignment.

Some disturbing arguments from all sides here.

1. Imran's record as captain was terrific. You can't just look at his win %. Test cricket in the 80's was a very different animal. Draws were more prevalent. You need to look at his overall series record. Imran took Pakistan all the way to the TOP of Test cricket (by 1988, we were generally regarded as the BEST TEST TEAM in the world), and to the TOP of ODI cricket.

All things considered (nature of the job, team and structure he inherited, results achieved), I would contend that Imran was the best cricket captain in the modern era. Period. Better than Waugh. Better than Border. Better than Lloyd.

Combine that with his status as one of the 3 greatest all-rounders IN CRICKET HISTORY (Imran, Sobers, Botham), and you have quite a package.

2. Inzi's insistance on control is not so surprising. Its the Pakistani way - "the system is screwed, so if somethings going be done right, I have to do it myself". Its the way he saw Imran lead. We can criticise him, but don't damn him - Inzi only did what he thought was right, at the time.

And lets give Bob some credit please. He wasn't the type of person who was willing to just play a dummy role. Obviously, there was far more interaction and partnership between Bob and Inzi than some of these off-the-cuff remarks (by Sheharyar and Imran) are alleging.

3. Personal lives? People can change. I don't know what Inzi was like in his younger days. But, as long as he's not indulging in such activities now, while maintaining the public personna that he has, you CAN'T CRITICISE HIM FOR HYPOCRISY.

Similarly with Imran. He never lied about what he did. At no time did he claim to be anything other than what he was, at that time. Please show me contradictory behaviour by him, after his younger 'playboy' (a hugely overused term, as anyone who knew him personally at that time can attest to) image. He became a very changed person in the aftermath of his mothers illness.

The key question is, does Imran now indulge in activities which he criticises others for? If not, then he's not a hypocrite either.

4. I find Imran's continuing belittling of Inzi a little sad, particularly as one can see how much respect Inzi still has for Imran. Sometimes, Imran is a bit too aloof.

No wonder Imran Hasn't been elected for the PM role by the Pakistani Population. It seems like we dont want a leader who knows what to do and understands the problem..we want someone who has white hair and prays 5 times a day.

like that will help the country

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Exactly, AKA EGO = Imran.

Great post ISR...totally agree with you

Imran needs to realise that he did it the same way as Inzi tried...in Imran's case it worked otherwise as Rameez mentioned in his 1992 WC related article: 'Those Pak journalists were highlighting and printing our return schedules in papers'...when we were going through the initial bad phase in that WC

They would have received a similar or harsher reception cause that team was much better than this current one

OMG..monsee dont you see any difference between Inzi's captaincy and Imran's captaincy?..dont u think there is a difference in Imran's ideology and Inzi's Ideology?

-Imran was a motivating captain, whereas Inzi is a DE-motivating captain.

-Imran kept the team together with his strong leadership and his ability as a player. Inzi kept the team together becoz he was 36 and older then the other players.

-Imran believed in 'God helps those who help themsleves' Inzi believes in 'God will help me coz i have a beard'

- Imran believed in leading from the front, Inzi believes in leading with the tail

Imran may have had a dictatorial style, and yes he was arrogant and probably not a very nice person. However, Imran worked with what he had. He could have chucked miandad out permanently for "being a difficult" character - it's no secret that they weren't the best of friends - but he realised Javed was his best player (batsman anyway) and strategist, he worked with him, played with him and took his input into strategy.

Inzi on the other hand threw shoaib out for a year or so - despite him being his most destructive bowler and the single biggest asset of the team.

Inzi had a dictatorial leadership, but he was clueless when it came to converting that leadership style into consistent success. Imran on the other hand had that skill in abundance. That's the difference.

Just like the world - sometimes a dictatorial style is required, but it is not a template for success.

it wasnt match fixing....you could tell they were trying to bowl them out...and nearly did !

Inzamam turned round later and told me, ‘Look, I take all the decisions, it’s my decision.’ So my immediate question was, ‘What is Woolmer’s role?’ He said, ‘What I make him do is fielding practice and he creates harmony in the dressing-room.’

this stands out for me. just shows what inzi had made out of woolmer's role. absolutely disgusting

did you see the interview? watch it again carefully. we all know Inzi has trouble with words. but the context in which this happened was that Immy K was trying to blame Woolmer for the opener's issue, and that ****** Inzi off. Not only was he defending Woolmer by saying that he doesnt have a magic wand, but he was also taking the blame saying he was responsible for picking the openers, not Woolmer.

So the inference that Inzi didnt let Woolmer do anything is plain wrong. Woolmer is not a little kid who cant make his own decisions. In this case Inzi was simply trying to defend Woolmer.

Hahaha, he called Inzi stupid. Oh lord.

i havent seen he interview, was just going by what i read, so thanks for clarifying.

but inzi made mos tof the decisions and thats a known fact. even shaharyar khan talked about that. inzi's decisions made woolmer look like a very ordinary coach

well its true that Inzi made most of the decisions. and its aqlso true that he deserves criticism for some of them. but, I think its unfair to say he made Bob look bad. Like we've talked about, Bob was a grown man. he was also a very smart man. he knew what he was doing. and if he let Inzi take control, it was his decision. if he thought the team was heading in a terrible direction, he should have come out and said something.

i hope people dont get me wrong. I am not saying Bob made a mistake. my take on all this is that Bob and Inzi both discussed decisions, Inzi had the final say but it was in counsel with Bob. So to make the argument that Bob was helpless and Inzi was in charge is false imo.

btw, you should see the interview. it really is very funny and makes all three cricketers look very endearing. my opinion of Immy K has not been very high in recent months but watching the interview made me like him more. let me see if I can find the link for you.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qafb2SRFf4c

watch all four parts. well worth your time.

thanks man, will definitely watch it. im a big imran khan fan and will watch most of his interviews.

i agree with ur comments on the woolmer inzi relationship, and that woolmer should have done something to save the team if he saw that the team was going in the wrong direction. it was his fault i agree, and thats where his polite attitude and friendly nature proved to be negative traits. it was woomer's fault not to say anything about all this, but inzi's decision making and his captaincy was very average. i have always been a big inzi supporter but his inability to learn from his mistakes cost us th eWC.

I agree with the last part. Indeed he cannot think on his feet and his stubbornness was a big factor. But I also believe some of our players failed to stand up and take responsibility, in particular Moyo and YK. But thats all in the past now. Hopefully we get a fresh start and a new direction and with the return of Asif along with an injury free Gul, Pak cricket will reach new heights, dare I say Inshallah!

once again Imran shows now a days he is only talk & talk

1 : first of all his comments about Bob's role...... it was NOT Imran Khan who asked Inzi that question, but Rameez Raja did which Inzi reply in his own style (we all know he is not good at speaking) and Imran Khan just picked his words and AFTER Inzi's comments he added then BW had nothing to do.

2 : about having Australian style : he didn't mentioned Inzi reply here (which in programmed he agreed too)...... Inzi said we can't have Australian style untill we don't have acedemy coz when Aus player comes out to play for international team, he is complete player and days are gone when you can let player play and improve his technique while having him in team. Earlier Imran talked abt Sami talent etc and Inzi agreed too that is team man and have talent...... but during Inzi reply he also said " talent ka kia karna jab performance nahi hai"

3 : while I read abt Imran Khan, slowly thing coming out abt him as well. some ppl here think he was EVERYTHING and he picked and gave some great players to Pak team. But I think he was jsut LUCKY
a ) he may have given chance to Inzi,Wasim & Waqar, but why he was unable to pick talent in his early days ? why he was unable to see talent in Saeed Anwer and he was kept of test team for long time after scoring pair in his first test ?
b ) secondly some days ago, someone put article here where writer mentioned Wasim Raja was first one (before Imran saw Inzi in nets) to mention to watch out guy from Multan. (can any one dug out that article, it should in Inzi tribute)
c ) he may have been good captain, but at end of day he don't give much credit to his team mates,batsmen etc. always says "I did this, I did that"

4 : As for his captaincy goes, there are some blunders too and unable to perform when key players were missing.
a ) someone mentioned here abt 83WC that we reached semi final when there was no bowler in team.... but fact is we won only 1 game out of 5 games against good team.
b ) in 87WC semi, Saleem Jaffer bowled last over and went for 17 runs (I think) and his final figures were 57 runs of 6 overs. before that last 5th over, he gave away 40 runs in 5 overs (in 87). now Why a "great" captain kept a over of so expensive bowler for end ? why not let him bowl his last over around 35th-40th over mark ? would you guys let Inzi go away with this blunder in important match ?

c ) 92WC : again got lucky when some players performed at exact time when Pak needed
in semi final where we bowled first, he let opposite team score 262 runs (huge target of that time) and later he said we attacked with bat in semi. But instead who should b attacking with bowl as we were bowling first and specially when we bowled NZ for 160 in last match. he laso says, I lead from front, but fact is, he played slowly and left the job for youngsters & Miandad to finish. Had Inzi not fired in semi, what would happen ? had Miandad didn't stayed till end, then ? in semi final win, there was NO captaincy at all from Imran Khan.
Final : again led from front story....... but left the crease at end for youngsters to finish the job. what If Wasim failed (as he failed in Semi)? OR Inzi didn't fire again? (he did 2 times in 2 games), was there any plan B for our great captain ? for Final he said, we attacked with bowl, where he should have attack with bat too.

now a days, he don't want to take charge, as know ppl kno alot abt cricket (coz of their interest,net and media) when compared to his time. he keep crying for structure of Pak domestic cricket, anyone asked him what he did in his days to change it ? YES "he didn't play domestic cricket in Pak" he keep saying i m saying for last 25 years, why don't forward to change it even once in last 25 years ? and ppl say he has big vision to become PM and change country, but how ? with one seat in national assembly ?

Asim,

(Don't take this the wrong way). I don't know how old you are. Were you around in the 80's?

Before he assumed the captaincy, he was an exciting (if somewhat tearaway) fast bowler, and a flashy (but too often deceiving) batsman. Afterwards, he was:
- a batsman good enough to play Test cricket as a specialist, for ANY team (bar perhaps the WI). In these days of cheap 100's, his record may sound modest. In actuality, he buttoned down his technique, and made runs when they really mattered.
- a fast bowler as good as anyone who had played before, or has played since.

His career figures are astounding as is, but bear in mind that he was labouring under 2 handicaps:
1) Pakistan didn't play that many Tests per year. His Test record is spread over nearly 20 years - so a large part of his playing career was when he was either a fleeting colt early on, or had to make the best of waning powers late on.
2) He missed the absolute best part of his career through, what was then, and almost career-ending injury.

Without these 2 handicaps, his figures would have been mind-blowing.

As a leader, he was in a class of his own. He always led from the front, and never shirked a challenge. Under his leadership, Pakistan came out of mediocrity, and beat all-comers. Everyone. At one point in the late 80's, we held the "rubber" over EVERY team in world cricket, bar one - the WI, with whom we played 3 ding-dong 1-1 series. We beat everyone else, and played the all-conquering WI to a standstill.

In ODI's, he managed to pick Pakistan up from a unit which never won a single title, to a machine which in the late 80's won nearly EVERY ODI tournament they entered, culminating in the 92 WC win.

The biggest testament to him is the golden legacy of players he managed, and those he left behind. Qadir would never have had the career he did without Imran's support. Wasim and Waqar - arguably one of the greatest fast bowling partnerships in cricket history. They wouldn't have been anything like what they became, without Imran's constant coaching (even within matches, from mid off). Inzamam and Saeed Anwar - 2 of our greatest stroke players who benefited from Imran's early support.

he would b great captain, BUT there was other ppl too who contributed to it and not ONLY Imran Khan. and he made some mistakes too (in important matches) as other captains too. he was NOT perfect as it claimed it to b.

In my opinion , THE greatest fast-bowling combination in the history of test cricket.

Peter Van Der Merwe (I think) was the match referee who Dickie Bird quoted in his book as sayign, he had seen the best combinations: Lillee and Thomson, Trueman and Statham and the West Indians: but Wasim and Waqar are the best he's ever seen.