From Deference to Defiance: 1970s as the Seminal Decade

[Saj]

28th August 2008

From Deference to Defiance: 1970s as the Seminal Decade

If results in this decade have generally disappointed Pakistani cricket fans, then it is at least partly down to the raised expectations arising from the results in the 1980s and 1990s. But, what appears to be overlooked is that the foundations for success in those decades were laid in the 1970s. It was in this decade that Pakistan slowly shed a deferential outlook and adopted a more assertive posture. First however, the context.

Pakistan initially achieved impressive success in the 1950s, given the total lack of infrastructure. The success could be ascribed, firstly to the competitive cricket of the Pentangular tournament of British India, from which many subsequent Pakistani cricketers emerged, second the cricketing rivalry between Lahore Government College and Islamia college and thirdly the fortune of having three remarkable cricketers that shaped Pakistani cricket in the early years – Hanif Mohammad, A.H Kardar and Fazal Mahmood.

However, once Fazal Mahmood declined and exited the scene, Pakistan cricket struggled. The 1960s were the low, mean decade. During this period the national team played 30 Tests, but won just 2. They drew 20, indicative of a defensive mindset and the lack of a strike bowler.

The sparse success moulded a deferential stance. So in 1971 when Pakistan arrived in England, Imran Khan noted in his autobiography, the pervasion of an “inferiority complex” amongst Pakistani players:

“Talaat Ali once asked a senior player if it was possible to see the ball once it had left Alan Ward’s hand…I was told that it would be impossible for me to take wickets because the English were so perfect technically…while Zaheer was informed that with such a high back-lift he would find it impossible to get any runs in England.”

The timidity extended to the Manager’s speech, where according to Imran Khan, he thanked England for the teaching “discipline through cricket, and how to eat with a knife and fork.”

This attitude was to be transformed in the 1970s. The 1970s broadly represented the populist era in South Asia and witnessed the ascent to power of the charismatic, but deeply flawed and authoritarian Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto. The populist leader, attempted to build Pakistani self-esteem, following the break-up of the country. As a populist, he stressed the importance of the awam (masses) and encouraged and supported popular culture, such as cricket.

Political encouragement aside, on that very tour of England in 1971, Zaheer Abbass scored 274 in the first Test at Edgbaston, which Pakistani journalist Shahed Sadullah labelled a turning point because of the “utter dominance and total confidence with which he made the, which signalled the rise of a new world cricketing power.”

But the two cricketers, who were to be at the forefront of a stronger assertion of Pakistani identity, were Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.

Imran Khan may have been Westernised, but he was never apologetic nor submissive to the West. In the 1980s and 1990, he was to become, not only the country’s greatest cricketer, but the foremost spokesman of Pakistan cricket owing to his forceful, articulate and thoughtful manner.

Javed Miandad’s disposition to resist was expressed in a markedly different manner to Imran. Whereas there was a detached air with Khan, Javed appeared to represent grassroots cricket. He was more openly defiant. The perceptive Mike Marqusee summarised Javed succinctly:

“When you watched Miandad you watched the whole human being, deeply invested in what he was trying to do, his blazing inner life – a mix of determination and calculation – somehow made visible in his eyes, his brow, his fidgeting, truculent movements.”

They were a fascinating contrast, but what they shared was a refusal to kow-tow to anyone, as distinct from the obsequious manner that marked the previous generation. This was concurrent with the emergence of a stronger national identity where cricket became part of the nationalist project, part of the nationalist image and self-assertion.

Thus, the enduring popularity of Imran and Javed, owes not just to their cricketing brilliance but what they appeared to represent. They marked an “epochal” change, as Pakistan became more defiant as a cricket team.

Other aspects of the 1970s meriting mention, was that this was the period where many Pakistani cricketers honed their skills in English county cricket, significant owing to the ineffectual state of the first class system in Pakistan. It was also the era where the attacking forms of bowling – pace, swing and leg-spin -that was to become associated with Pakistan cricket became more prominent with the rise and emergence of Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz and Abdul Qadir and Intikhan Alam. In Sarfraz, Pakistan had also found someone who understood the characteristics of a reverse swinging ball and the conditions under which it could be exploited, something that most of the rest of the world was only to discover in the early 90s. Reverse swing was to become mainstream bowling strategy for Pakistan. Whilst others sought the new ball after 80 overs, Pakistan clung onto the old one, often to the bafflement of cricket pundits.

During the 1970s, Pakistan therefore became a more confident outfit. There was a sea change in attitude. But they also remained a factional team where the fear of losing still prevailed, in spite of their ambitious pretensions. In the 1980s, under Imran Khan’s expert leadership, Pakistan was to adopt a more attacking mindset on the field, more compatible with its ambitions that would propel it to a world force, incomparable to the meek teams of the 1960s. But the seeds that shaped future performances were laid in the 1970s, when the boys became men.

[Golden arm]

bumped in.
Saj, a wonderful article by you.
I had the honour of meeting great fazal mahmood in his late years.
Must say just like Imran, a wonderful charishmatic figure.

[Golden arm]

great fazal mahmood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazal_Mahmood