The writings of a Lackadaisical Latif <<Of course our great friendships with Indian classmates will be severely tested when India plays Pakistan, with Pandit (true to his aristocratic “Anglophilia” remains surprisingly apathetic to cricket) remarking to my own mother that his "World Cup victory will be when India trounces Pakistan on the 1st of March". >>
I've had an interesting week, which inhibited my efforts to devote time to the weblog. Went for two days to the shire (Hertfordshire, which is just outside of London) for an interview with HSBC (in case you're curious its the Honk Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation) and spent the rest of the week in wilful hedonism. I have just watching Moulin Rouge, with a few friends, and the girls in the group were close to tears at the end of the movie. This was not surprising since even I had to admit that the movie had communicated a powerful message on true love and had translated it effectively on screen without succumbing to the clichés.
Of course my greatest disappointment of the week was when Pakistan's batting collapsed like a deck of cards in the cricket match against England (despite Sohaib Akhtar's bravado at the end, where he managed to pack in two sixes and two fours in a single over and was tantalisingly close to scoring a half century in record time for a world cup match) nevertheless I have grown somewhat accustomed to the antics of the Pakistani team and I take consolation from this loss in that next week's match with India will prove all the more crucial (though ominously India has never lost to Pakistan on a World Cup Match).
However there is an observation that can be elucidated about the future of the world cup. The arbitrary delineation of the teams into Group A and Group B, where 4 world class teams (Australia, England, India & Pakistan) have to compete for limited spacing into the next round has absolute no underlying logic. The Sub-continent, especially India, has become virtually the last refuge of cricket throughout the globe (indeed one can discern that the audience for England's matches are the greying white and the youths of the rural middle class ) and it is critical that this market become the focal nexus of future cricketing. Thus in future world cups the ideal solution would be to place Bangladesh, India & Sri Lanka in Group B, along with "upcoming" teams such as Canada, Holland and Namibia thus virtually securing the places for the former three teams whilst allowing Group A to be host to cut throat competitions with teams like Australia, England, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe battling it out. Thus one satisfies the primary demographic market, the South Asian one, by ensuring their progress whilst allowing for intense cricket in Group A. If the South Asian teams fail to make it through Group B even in those circumstances then they frankly don't deserve to be in the World Cup in the first place.
For instance football (or soccer in American lingo) officials themselves realise that Chinese audience is rapidly becoming the largest market for football nevertheless the Chinese team is abysmal in comparison to the more established European and Latin Americans teams (Japan is pretty decent) thus there is the danger that the largest market will be alienated by its team performance.
Despite Pakistan's humiliating loss to England I remain confident in the prowess of a team, which stormed the World Cup in 92. Though the quintessential Pakistani traits of internal politics, rivalry, backstabbing, self-promotion, aggression and individualism define the Pakistani team there is no doubt that it continues to remain a leading favourite. I recently commented to an Indian friend that the Indian cricket team was far superior to its Pakistani counterpart in that they had the virtue of consistency as opposed to the Pakistani team's erratic performance. Of course sticking to my own parochial and nationalistic sentiments I added the punch line that India's consistency was borne out of her continual ability to under perform during World Cup Matches whereas Pakistan held up the hope that it would be able to hold its own once in a while. Of course our great friendships with Indian classmates will be severely tested when India plays Pakistan, with Pandit (true to his aristocratic “Anglophilia” remains surprisingly apathetic to cricket) remarking to my own mother that his "World Cup victory will be when India trounces Pakistan on the 1st of March". I myself diverge from my Pakistani roots in that I do not display the fanatical devotion to cricket like my national compatriots and I surprise friends, Indian and Pakistani alike, when I exclaim that the India-Pakistan holds no particular bearing from me. Of course friends, who are regular readers of my weblog, disregard this especially when they remember that I devoted my writings during the month of December to my belief in Pakistan’s virtues over that of India. Zachary.. |
