Cricket World Cup and Pakistan

Cricket World Cup and Pakistan?

“Cricket is a gentleman's game”. The game was played in the early days in England by the affluent class who boasted the virtues of a 'Gentleman'. Cricket was played with a competitive attitude but in a fair and honest manner.

Cricket is a bat and ball sport and is played by two teams with 11 players on each side, on an oval ground. The oval field has a rectangular area in the middle, known as the pitch that is 22 yards, with wickets at each end and the major actions take place at the pitch. The game of cricket involves batting, bowling and fielding.

Each team takes turn on batting and bowling in the field on the pitch. Two batsmen play on the pitch and the bowler tries to knock down the wicket or the batsman by bowling from one side of the pitch for an over and from other side for next over by another bowler. The game’s main attraction is batting and the way batsman performs on the wicket against all kind of tricks employed by the bowlers assisted by fielders of his team.

The game was initially played in a longer version known as “Test Match”, and very few common wealth countries were considered to compete in test matches officially recognized by International Cricket Council (ICC). In 1975, first ICC Cricket World Cup; of a shorter version of game was introduced known as On Day Cricket, which now is a 50 overs each side game.

The One day game version introduced some concepts which made the game a science of many calculations and computations. The game made it compulsory for each team to have at least five (5) bowlers as it restricts to a maximum number of overs by a bowler by 20% of total overs to be bowled by fielding team. Therefore, .any team can have a max six (6) batsmen and one of them must be capable of keeping the wicket behind the batsman taking strike as wicket keeper.

The game is played on an oval ground and starts with a new ball which is used for designated max number of overs in an innings, unless the ball changes shape. The ball behaves in a particular manner, when it is new and keeps changing till last over in a One day cricket match. The pitch condition and the weather conditions also play important role in the bahaviour of the ball being bowled by a particular set of bowlers. For example, a pacer with speed more than 140 km range may benefit in swinging the ball during an overcast weather condition both by bowling with the wind are into the wind. A team may have variety of bowlers, right arm or left arm, fast bowlers, medium pacers, and spinners that too a leg break or off break bowler. Some important terms related to bowling are bowler's run up, action, line and length and consistency.

Another important aspect of the game is fielding. Setting a field requires deep understanding of game including the type of bowler, his strength and weaknesses and the class and style of a batsman on the crease. It also requires knowledge about the fielder’s capability. For example, a slip catcher must be a person of sharp eye, quick reflexes and a pair of safe hands to grasp an edge coming with high velocity. Similarly a person with slow legs and weak arms shall never be placed in outfields. Modern day cricket doesn’t present a hidden corner for a casual weak fielder. Some terms related to fielding are sharp, alert and game awareness.

The batsman is the most adored actor or player on a cricket ground. The audiences flock in large numbers to watch the exploits of a particular player. The game of cricket can be termed as batsman show; which at times are stolen by a bowler who mesmerizes the batsmen and the audience both at the same time by dazzling display of tricks with the ball. Some of the cricket's great bowlers are famous because they did the trick with the ball on many occasions. Modern day limited over games like one day or T20 cricket has been designed to favour the batsman. Batsman is the favourite child of Cricket Administration, known as ICC, because, the crowd in the stadium comes to watch batsmen show his game and score runs and revenue is generated. Some important terms related to batting are stance on the crease, use of handle, hand & eye coordination, foot movement, use of crease and appetite for runs.

The game of cricket is played by all kind of humans with various set of talents and capability. But, it’s a competitive sports and people with real class and skills make it to top to represent their country. The national teams of all cricketing nations comprise a mix of class A & B players. There could be class A batsman and class A bowler and class A fielder as well. A class A batsman or bowler is player who can win the match all on its own and there may not be more than one or two such player in a team. The ICC World Cup history authenticates that a team that comprises more than one class A batsman and bowler wins the tournament.

The most important factor in the game of cricket is the Captain. Cricket probably is the only sports, where captain plays a significant role in the make-up of the match played on ground. The Cricket World Cup has seen some really outstanding captains who managed to win the cup for their nation. What makes a player an outstanding captain in the game of cricket is his power of imagination, game awareness, knowledge of ground conditions including weather and composition and strength of his own team? A successful captain actually conceptualizes plans and articulates the full game in his mind prior going into the match.

The Nation Pakistan has won only one ICC World Cup because the only captain who had the attributes of a successful captain stated above was Imran Khan. Since 1992, a virus divergent to very concept of the game of cricket called as boom boom Afridi has hit the psyche of Pakistan Cricket, which has damaged serious nature of the sports known as gentlemen game. A team of talented players may win few matches but winning a tournament requires a serious thinking head as captain. If Nation Pakistan wants to win ICC World Cup then, it must cultivate and culture a class A player with sane head on the shoulders.