Tragic that people on both sides are being denied the joy of watching these top cricketers play on their soil, writes former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal
I still recall the time when cricket between India and Pakistan stalled for almost two decades due to non-cricketing reasons, finally resuming with a three-Test series in 1978.
I remember a lot of us Pakistani players were playing in the Kerry Packer ‘rebel’ series at that time, due to which those players had been banned from playing for Pakistan. However, once it was announced that India were coming to Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) changed its mind about those players. Obviously, Pakistan wanted their best team to represent the country in that important series.
India were captained by Bishan Singh Bedi. The team also included the other great spinners Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, along with Bedi himself, and some great batsmen of that era in Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Chetan Chauhan and some others.
Somehow, we managed to win the series 2-0. And it was a great series watched by hundreds of thousands on the ground. In spite of little television coverage in those days, millions watched. As far as the atmosphere was concerned, that series against India was the biggest experience of my cricketing life. The amount of love and affection showered by the common people of Pakistan on the Indian players was awesome. People really opened their hearts and doors to the Indian players. It was the same case when we went to India a year later. We got the same amount of love and respect in India. The hospitality on both sides was truly amazing and so were the crowds. Our first experience of playing in India was memorable.
I think that since there was no cricket between both the countries for the past 18 years, people on both sides of the border were starving for India-Pakistan matches. As far as the relationship between both teams was concerned, the word ‘acrimony’ did not exist. All of us knew about the big players on either side, as most of these big players were playing county cricket in those days. There was a good amount of interaction between us, and we had a lot of respect and affection for each other. I recall that both the teams played very hard on the field to make sure that their team wins, but once the day’s play was over, it was friendly banter in our get-togethers.
I can see that the current players of both teams have the same respect and affection for each other. They have the same enthusiasm about playing against each other, even though the teams now meet only on foreign soil in international competitions. And that is really very sad and unfortunate, as cricket or cricketers have got nothing to do with those issues, because of which India and Pakistan don’t play each other on a bilateral basis.
I genuinely feel sad that talented youngsters of both India and Pakistan are not getting to play against each other as the bilateral series are not being played, depriving millions of cricket lovers all around the world of watching what I call the biggest cricketing event.
People from both sides are denied the joy of watching top players of India and Pakistan play on their soil. That is a tragedy. That is something that needs to be corrected, though cricketers or cricket authorities can do nothing about it. It’s for the politicians of both the countries to sort out. As I said, cricket is a sport which can build bridges. Cricketers are ambassadors who can bring the people together.
As for Sunday’s game, it’s tough to say who will win. T20, according to me, is not serious cricket, unlike ODIs or Tests. Everything in that format is limited, bowlers can’t bowl for more than four overs, batsmen can’t bat for more than 20 overs. It’s a ‘fun game.’ It has got nothing to do with technique, skills or temperament. However, it makes money for cricket boards and cricketers, which they deserve, and that’s fantastic.
The good thing is that T20 cricket has seen fielding standards improve beyond imagination.
How cricket at Sharjah was born
The idea of starting international cricket matches at Sharjah came from a UAE businessman, Abdul Rahman Bukhatir. He was a great cricket fan as he spent a lot of time growing up in India and Pakistan and got interested in playing cricket. He was a huge fan of Pakistani great Hanif Mohammad and he wanted to honour him for his services to Pakistan cricket and cricket at large by holding a festival match between two international teams in Sharjah. And this plan of him was stalled due to unavailability of the teams. I was introduced to Bukhatir by a mutual friend in London. He discussed this proposal with me.
And since I was playing county cricket for Kent, he suggested that if I can arrange international players from India and Pakistan to come and play in an exhibition match in Sharjah, then he would able to fulfil his desire of honouring Hanif Mohammed with a purse of US $50,000. He invited me to visit Sharjah which I did and he took me to a barren land which was nothing but a desert. I remember standing there when he told me that if I can get the teams in 4-5 months’ time, he will have a cricket field with grass on it and a concrete pitch. I must confess that I was a little confused because I thought that it was highly unlikely that he would be able to achieve it. Since I had recently retired from international cricket, I was in touch with the current players of India and Pakistan. So, I made an effort and contacted Javed Miandad, who was the captain of the Pakistan team and Mr Madhav Mantri, who was an uncle of Sunil Gavaskar. And both of them agreed that they’ll make an effort to participate.
At that time, the Indian team was in Australia. After speaking to Gavaskar, Mr Mantri confirmed that he has got Sunil’s approval to play in Sharjah. Since it was a friendly, exhibition match, the teams were named as Gavaskar XI and Miandad XI. And that was the birth of Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). After the response Bukhatir received for that match, the idea came to his head and he agreed to my proposal to hold an annual event like this in honour of retired cricketers from India and Pakistan. And the rest is history. It went on for 20 years. Sharjah was the first off-shore venue in cricket.
During one of the years, after Pakistan were all out for 87 in response to India’s 125 in the Rothman’s Cup in Sharjah, Kapil Dev told me in jest: ‘How many times are you going to invite us here and beat your team like this’. Ironically, that was the last time India beat Pakistan in Sharjah till 1991! I still remember the day when Javed Miandad hit Chetan Sharma for that huge six to pull off a thrilling win for Pakistan. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric. Nowadays, with IPL and PSL around, these last-over tamashas are common place, but those days, it was a rare occurrence.
It was strange that Sharjah was targeted as the hub of match-fixing whereas the first match-fixing conviction happened on Indian soil. And in fact, a special committee that was constituted to look into the Sharjah matches, including former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd gave Sharjah a clean chit.
(Asif Iqbal was also instrumental in organising India-Pak matches in Sharjah in the 1980s and 90s. He spoke to Gaurav Gupta)
I still recall the time when cricket between India and Pakistan stalled for almost two decades due to non-cricketing reasons, finally resuming with a three-Test series in 1978.
I remember a lot of us Pakistani players were playing in the Kerry Packer ‘rebel’ series at that time, due to which those players had been banned from playing for Pakistan. However, once it was announced that India were coming to Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) changed its mind about those players. Obviously, Pakistan wanted their best team to represent the country in that important series.
India were captained by Bishan Singh Bedi. The team also included the other great spinners Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, along with Bedi himself, and some great batsmen of that era in Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Chetan Chauhan and some others.
Somehow, we managed to win the series 2-0. And it was a great series watched by hundreds of thousands on the ground. In spite of little television coverage in those days, millions watched. As far as the atmosphere was concerned, that series against India was the biggest experience of my cricketing life. The amount of love and affection showered by the common people of Pakistan on the Indian players was awesome. People really opened their hearts and doors to the Indian players. It was the same case when we went to India a year later. We got the same amount of love and respect in India. The hospitality on both sides was truly amazing and so were the crowds. Our first experience of playing in India was memorable.
I think that since there was no cricket between both the countries for the past 18 years, people on both sides of the border were starving for India-Pakistan matches. As far as the relationship between both teams was concerned, the word ‘acrimony’ did not exist. All of us knew about the big players on either side, as most of these big players were playing county cricket in those days. There was a good amount of interaction between us, and we had a lot of respect and affection for each other. I recall that both the teams played very hard on the field to make sure that their team wins, but once the day’s play was over, it was friendly banter in our get-togethers.
I can see that the current players of both teams have the same respect and affection for each other. They have the same enthusiasm about playing against each other, even though the teams now meet only on foreign soil in international competitions. And that is really very sad and unfortunate, as cricket or cricketers have got nothing to do with those issues, because of which India and Pakistan don’t play each other on a bilateral basis.
I genuinely feel sad that talented youngsters of both India and Pakistan are not getting to play against each other as the bilateral series are not being played, depriving millions of cricket lovers all around the world of watching what I call the biggest cricketing event.
People from both sides are denied the joy of watching top players of India and Pakistan play on their soil. That is a tragedy. That is something that needs to be corrected, though cricketers or cricket authorities can do nothing about it. It’s for the politicians of both the countries to sort out. As I said, cricket is a sport which can build bridges. Cricketers are ambassadors who can bring the people together.
As for Sunday’s game, it’s tough to say who will win. T20, according to me, is not serious cricket, unlike ODIs or Tests. Everything in that format is limited, bowlers can’t bowl for more than four overs, batsmen can’t bat for more than 20 overs. It’s a ‘fun game.’ It has got nothing to do with technique, skills or temperament. However, it makes money for cricket boards and cricketers, which they deserve, and that’s fantastic.
The good thing is that T20 cricket has seen fielding standards improve beyond imagination.
How cricket at Sharjah was born
The idea of starting international cricket matches at Sharjah came from a UAE businessman, Abdul Rahman Bukhatir. He was a great cricket fan as he spent a lot of time growing up in India and Pakistan and got interested in playing cricket. He was a huge fan of Pakistani great Hanif Mohammad and he wanted to honour him for his services to Pakistan cricket and cricket at large by holding a festival match between two international teams in Sharjah. And this plan of him was stalled due to unavailability of the teams. I was introduced to Bukhatir by a mutual friend in London. He discussed this proposal with me.
And since I was playing county cricket for Kent, he suggested that if I can arrange international players from India and Pakistan to come and play in an exhibition match in Sharjah, then he would able to fulfil his desire of honouring Hanif Mohammed with a purse of US $50,000. He invited me to visit Sharjah which I did and he took me to a barren land which was nothing but a desert. I remember standing there when he told me that if I can get the teams in 4-5 months’ time, he will have a cricket field with grass on it and a concrete pitch. I must confess that I was a little confused because I thought that it was highly unlikely that he would be able to achieve it. Since I had recently retired from international cricket, I was in touch with the current players of India and Pakistan. So, I made an effort and contacted Javed Miandad, who was the captain of the Pakistan team and Mr Madhav Mantri, who was an uncle of Sunil Gavaskar. And both of them agreed that they’ll make an effort to participate.
At that time, the Indian team was in Australia. After speaking to Gavaskar, Mr Mantri confirmed that he has got Sunil’s approval to play in Sharjah. Since it was a friendly, exhibition match, the teams were named as Gavaskar XI and Miandad XI. And that was the birth of Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). After the response Bukhatir received for that match, the idea came to his head and he agreed to my proposal to hold an annual event like this in honour of retired cricketers from India and Pakistan. And the rest is history. It went on for 20 years. Sharjah was the first off-shore venue in cricket.
During one of the years, after Pakistan were all out for 87 in response to India’s 125 in the Rothman’s Cup in Sharjah, Kapil Dev told me in jest: ‘How many times are you going to invite us here and beat your team like this’. Ironically, that was the last time India beat Pakistan in Sharjah till 1991! I still remember the day when Javed Miandad hit Chetan Sharma for that huge six to pull off a thrilling win for Pakistan. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric. Nowadays, with IPL and PSL around, these last-over tamashas are common place, but those days, it was a rare occurrence.
It was strange that Sharjah was targeted as the hub of match-fixing whereas the first match-fixing conviction happened on Indian soil. And in fact, a special committee that was constituted to look into the Sharjah matches, including former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd gave Sharjah a clean chit.
(Asif Iqbal was also instrumental in organising India-Pak matches in Sharjah in the 1980s and 90s. He spoke to Gaurav Gupta)
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