Adil Najam
How do I feel today with Pakistan having lost to India in the Semi-Final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup?
I feel exactly as I did on November 4, 1987. I was at the Ghaddafi Stadium in Lahore, as a sports reporter for the newspaper The Muslim, covering the Semi-Final match between Pakistan and Australia in the 1987 World Cup. Pakistan was the clear favorites. Pakistan lost.
How did that feel? Pretty much as today feels. It felt like this:
But as a reader wrote on my earlier post, I am sad, but not angry. Nor am I ashamed or dejected. In an odd sort of way, I am fulfilled. We tried our best.
Today was not our best day; but frankly it was not our worst day either. There have been many days in recent weeks and months when I was ashamed of what was being done in my name. Today was not one of those days. Today, I took many blows, but I stand tall. Today, I wait for tomorrow. Because, tomorrow is another day.
Congratulations, Team India on a well-earned victory.
Thank you, Team Pakistan, for a month full of thrills and chills and making us come together as a country again. Your fielding was rather pathetic, but you have made us proud nonetheless!
Meengla,
The incident in Chennai is not a one-off incident. The crowds there have generally been known to be supportive of whoever is playing well. In this world cup, the crowds were well-behaved, and the event was well-0rganized. Your sullenness is hard for me to understand, given the record.
As for racism, there is a generally high level of racism in our part of the world. Let me leave it at that.
@Sridhar,
I am not sure Afridi should have said what he said in that interview after coming home. He generated a lot of goodwill during his post India-Pak match interview and perhaps things should had been left at that. Hopefully, not a lot of people in India would see that interview. Lord knows, Pakistanis are so demonized in India as it is. There is a blanket condemnation and stereo types of all Pakistanis in India. May be part of it is justified but mostly not.
And that Chennai ‘standing ovation’ you keep bringing up happened quite a long time ago; even that was given for some very extra-ordinary performance by Pakistan. Much water has gone under the various bridges of the Sub-continent since then. To even the most peacenik Pakistanis we have seen how the team led by Inzimam in mid 2000’s to India was jeered and insulted by the Indian hosts versus how generously Pakistanis hosted India around those days. That was before the Mumbai 2008 tragedy.
Let’s just face it: Indians are a very intolerant hosts, especially when they are losing. *****If rumors are correct then even the Indian ‘prophetic’ parrot who predicted a Pakistani win against India in the world cup has been killed!!****
Nations and human beings are not altogether different from each other. Just like a repentant, introspective person can be redeemed by looking ‘inwards’ so can a nation be. We Pakistanis are not shy to show our dirty laundry. Indeed, as this excellent blogspace can tell you, we are all too much in chest beatings. However, there is hope in a nation like Pakistan which is ready to face its demons.
Shahid Afridi’s comments certainly have taken out all the goodwill generated by the game and especially by his post-match comments. That said, it did strike me after the finals that Dhoni did not say something nice about the Sri Lankan team. I don’t think this was deliberate. But a few words for the opponent would have generated a high degree of goodwill for him, his team and for India in Sri Lanka and perhaps beyond that as well.
Overall, this was a well-organized world cup, and while the crowds in the games held in India were rooting for the home team (as were those in games held in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and why not!), they were generally welcoming towards all teams. The venues in India are not like Lords’ with the crowds respectfully clapping for everybody (except perhaps Chennai, which once gave a standing ovation to a Pakistani team after they had defeated India). They have their own color. But there were no untoward incidents in India. People came out to enjoy and enjoy they did.
The game will revolve around the Indian subcontinent in the future, with India as the main market for the sport. Hence, it is important for the administrators to prevent perceptions of dominance by India which are already coming about. The rest of the world needs to acknowledge that India generates much of the money for the sport and will retain commensurate influence. The players can play their own part in keeping the focus on the sport and on good sportsmanship, rather than the politics that are inevitable in such a situation.
@Nusrat
Clever way of distorting other people’s comment to suit your nefarious designs. Where were Taliban in my comments? I am sorry but you are typical hate monger and delusional person. I guess you were the one who had placed bets on India and now you have earned millions. Congratulations on that.
libertarian & mumbaikar – in light of afridi’s interview with samaa tv yesterday in which he declared that hindus can never be as generous or warm hearted as muslims, do you still consider him a national treasure of pakistan?