Pakistan’s painful run at the 2016 World Twenty20 finally ended on Friday evening. After a fortnight in which rumours of infighting and groupism overshadowed their limp campaign, Shahid Afridi’s team bowed out of the tournament after going down by 21 runs against Australia in Mohali.
The sequence of events would have made for a perfect soap opera script, had it not been happening on the cricket pitch. After days of tense negotiations in the build-up to the tournament, Pakistan were finally given the go-ahead to travel to India by their government. Finally, Pakistani cricket fans must have thought, the focus could shift back to the cricket.
But that is not the way Pakistani cricket operates. Not even a day had passed before their captain decided to set the cat among the pigeons. Asked at a press conference about playing in India, Afridi declared that the Pakistani team gets more love in India than on home turf. Recrimination followed: there was a furious reaction in Pakistan from former players and a subdued Afridi was forced to clarify.
But that was only the start. After India’s win over Pakistan in Kolkata on March 19, a video emerged of Umar Akmal asking Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan to tell the team management to push him up the batting order. The team management obviously did not take kindly to Akmal’s action of washing dirty linen in public.
When the team acceded to his request in the next game against New Zealand on March 22, Akmal cut a sorry figure. Pakistan were off to a good start chasing an imposing target of 181, but Akmal could hardly get going, depriving the chase of any momentum it had gained. Waqar Younis, the Pakistani coach, later fumed that his team was "just not good enough" and that the players who thought so highly of themselves could not perform when given the chance.
Of course, the Pakistan Cricket Board back home did not sit idle. PCB chief Shahryar Khan showed how much confidence he had in the team, openly saying that the nation should not expect much from them. Additionally, an inquiry was instituted to probe whether groupism was responsible for the team’s abject showing.
But this drama is not new to Pakistani cricket. Whenever a global tournament comes along, Pakistan almost inevitably find themselves in the eye of a storm.
1996 World Cup: A pullout leads to a conspiracy theory
Not many players would want to miss an India-Pakistan match. But Wasim Akram, then Pakistan’s premier fast bowler, pulled out just before the much anticipated quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup in Bangalore.
Pakistan crashed to defeat in an entertaining match, but that was just the start. Back home, there was an outpouring of rage. Conspiracy theorists were not willing to accept that Akram was injured – they alleged he had deliberately faked an injury. Effigies of Akram were burnt and his house was stoned as Pakistani cricket faced one of its lowest points.
2006 Champions Trophy: Doping enters the cricketing lexicon
Pakistan came into the 2006 Champions Trophy in India having changed their captain twice in the build-up. Their original choice, Inzamam-ul-Haq, was suspended and so the selectors appointed Younis Khan as his replacement. During the course of one startling day, Khan first stepped down from the captaincy, was replaced by Mohammad Yousuf, and was then reinstated as captain again.
But the worst was yet to come. A day after the tournament began, Pakistan’s two best fast bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, tested positive for banned substances in an internal dope test. They were sent home as Pakistani cricket was yet again plunged into controversy. Though their bans were later lifted, Pakistan’s chances in the tournament were dealt a body blow – they only won one out of the three games they played.
2007 World Twenty20: A fight to the end...literally
Another world tournament, another controversy, featuring the Akhtar-Asif duo yet again.
In the run-up to the first ever World Twenty20 championship in South Africa in 2007, Mohammad Asif sustained an injury following a dressing room bust-up with Akhtar. This led to Akhtar being sent home, where he stoked the issue further by claiming that it was Shahid Afridi who had provoked him, and that Asif was collateral damage. Pakistan, however, put adversity behind them to reach the final, where they narrowly lost to India after Misbah-ul-Haq’s ill-fated scoop.
2007 World Cup: One of cricket’s darkest moments
And finally, the moment when cricket entered distinctly murky territory. After a disastrous 2007 World Cup where Pakistan were eliminated by Ireland, their coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room. The tournament was overshadowed as the world tried to make sense of this tragedy. Rumours flew thick and fast – some whispered he was murdered as he had threatened to reveal details of match-fixing, while other speculated that Woolmer had committed suicide. After investigations and counter-investigations, the jury declared an open verdict which meant that they were unable to find any conclusive theory pertaining to his death. It was a tragedy which shook up not just Pakistani cricket but global cricket, and still remains one of cricket’s darkest moments.
