A trip down memory lane with a wonderful article from PakPassion's very own 'The Great Khan.'

 by The Great Khan

1 November 2010

There are times while watching this great game of ours, when I simply sit open mouthed and wonder. Wonder at its constant ability to amaze and astound me. There have been many instances where this has happened but there are times when a particular moment just sticks in your mind forever. Miandads six at Sharjah, Wasims two deliveries in the world cup final, Afridi’s celebrations at the end of the 2009 T20 world cup come to mind immediately. There have been moments however that linger alot longer simply because of the utter devastation they bring to the standard convention and order of the game of cricket. The arrival of one such player did exactly that. 

In 1988 after the turmoil of the England tours the Pakistan team set off for their biggest challenge yet. Three tests against the calypso kings of cricket, the mighty west indies. Imran had retired after the 1987 world cup but President Zia, no doubt using his charm and subtlety, enticed Imran back to lead us against the worlds greatest test side. Secretly I’m sure Imran didn’t really need much convincing. Beating the world champs in their backyard was the holy grail of international cricket at the time. Nobody had succeeded for almost twenty years and no one really thought that the Pakistan team had much of a shot at doing so. No one other than many Pakistani’s that is. I remember thinking this was going to be harder than any series we had played since the Australian adventure many months ago. It got worse when we found out there were to be no highlights or pictures to be beamed to our TV sets. Back to the traditional radio it was. The sound of Pakistan radio commentary would light up the din of the dining room in our house in Karachi. My father would sit for a few hours listening to the odd session and I would sneak in and join him when my mother had dozed off. This series was to see the debut of a certain Curtly Ambrose. I still marvel at the image in my head of the giant frame of Mr. Ambrose bearing down on the diminutive Shoaib Mohammed. Mohammed always seemed like he had just got lost somewhere under all that padding. At the time we would always ridicule the poor man, but now Id kill for a test opener like him in the current side. Oh how “na shukray” (thankless) we are in times of abundance. 

The series was very competitive and many eyes rested on the shoulders of one Miandad. He didn’t disappoint. A great innings in the first test helped anchor a good score from the Pakistani batsmen. Imran and Wasim then destroyed the mighty windies with their reverse swing and pace. However a new spectre had arisen and was fated to ultimately decide the series. Imran had for years advocated the introduction of neutral umpires. There were two places where the presence of neutral umpires would have potentially changed the course of Pakistani cricket history. The second was at Hobart in 1999 when Justin Langer nicked the ball behind on the final morning. A nick heard all the way to the commentary box. The first instance was in the final test against the West Indies. In both instances umpires seemingly denied decisions to the visitors when they were so obvious or plum one could only ever suspect ulterior motives. National pride at times it seemed, would outweigh impartiality and the essence of the game. That’s not to say the subcontinental teams didn’t have their fair share of favourable decisions but it was just painful to know you had been denied time and again from historical moments by a “mistake” from the umpire. Ultimately the West Indies managed to win the final test and Pakistan were denied a famous victory. The team returned home heroes but still slightly perturbed that they were denied a historic win. 

The series against India in 1989 was held as always it seemed under a cloud of tension and hostility between the two neighbours. Unfortunatley the “cant lose at any cost brigade” got their way and we welcomed the Indians with nice flat pitches. Manjrekar was a rock throughout the series. A good player and the original wall, he managed to keep everyone at bay as others floundered around him. Its interesting that he is now better remembered for his commentary than his batting which is a pity. That series is also overshadowed by the debut of a certain Sachin Tendulkar who decided to show Abdul Qadir that he wasn’t a 16 year old flash in the pan. The second test allowed the future superstar to show how talented he really was. India knew they had a star in the making after his onslaught on poor Qadir. Of course he may have been slightly fortunate that the bowler who got him out in the first test wasn’t playing in the second. A bowler who would light up the world of cricket like no other in a long time. A raging force that was unleashed by Imran Khan and one that would have rent asunder many a team had injury not intervened. That force of nature was Waqar Younis. 

Younis just seemed to come out of nowhere for us fans at the time. Who was this guy? Waqar who? “acha Imran nay dhunda hay” would he be the next Salim Jaffer we all wondered? That thought was put to rest in the first test in Karachi when he ripped through the famed Indian batting line up by taking 5 on debut. He then promptly broke down and didn’t appear until the New Zealand series. That’s when we really saw destruction on the cricket field. Up until that moment I had never, in my memory, seen stumps flying out of the ground with such magnitude. Here was this pace bowler who would just sprint in at high speed and bowl the most unplayable deliveries! It was unbelievable! The late indippers were just astonishing and before we knew it, hundreds of Waqar wannabees started showing up at muhalla tournaments. It was hard being a tape ball opener when a giant pathan with ambitions of bowling inswinging yorkers was coming at you! It was all Waqars fault of course. The West Indies arrived for the return series in 1990 and were promptly sent into the path of the whirlwind. Haynes,Logi,Richards,lara. The names mean nothing when a pure force of nature decides to put you in its sights. Stumps flew, toes were crushed and the veneer of West Indian invincibility came crashing down with an almighty thud. I still remember those two great deliveries Waqar bowled to Haynes and Logi in the ODI series. An inswinging yorker to Haynes that he almost kept out followed by a scorcher that sent Logi’s off stump cartwheeling a mile behind! What made the spectacle even more great was Waqars action. Sprinting in like a 100 metre runner the momentum would take him right up to the batsman. The sight was even greater when the stumps would go flying and he would carry on celebrating. Sheer adrenaline. 

The Australasia cup in Sharjah then pitted Waqar against the world champions Australia and two in two had them floundering in the final. Before the match much was made of the confrontation and the Aussies had a plan to try and negate Waqars swing. It worked for a while and Waqar was taken off. Only to be brought on to remove both Border with an in dipper that had him LBW and then Dean Jones (the best ODI batsmen at the time) was cleaned up by a ripper. Wasim then finished the job and Pakistan had found a pairing equal to any that had come before. The pace Waqar could generate was nothing I had seen before and nothing Ive seen since. Shoaib Akhtar in 99 in India came close but the late swing of Waqar coupled with his great enthusiasm just gave everyone a boost. Forces of nature don’t come along every day but in this team we had two of the greats. If Waqar wouldn’t get you than Wasim probably would. It is a measure of the batsmen of that era who had to face such bowling attacks. I wager that if Dean Jones were a young man now he would be the single greatest ODI batsmen we would have seen. Watching Tendulkar bat now harks back to that era and when he’s gone our last connection to the time of giants will come to an end. Standing up to a hurricane is no easy task especially when this hurricane had the tendency to bowl a red cherry at 100 mph with accuracy and late swing. Waqar continued to dominate but fell foul of injury just when Pakistan needed him the most. Just before the moment of Imrans destiny. Just before the tournament that defined Pakistan cricket for a generation: the 1992 Cricket World Cup.