About a year ago, Pakistani cricketer turned commentator Rameez Raja landed in hot water during the post match conference of a Pakistan Super League match. Raja asked Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal, who was adjudged the man of the match, if they could speak in English. “Tamim, I can’t speak your language. What then? English?” Raja said. It was widely assumed that the former Pakistan captain was suggesting that Tamim did not speak English and Bangladeshi fans and the media erupted over the perceived insult.

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Cut to 2017. After a hugely impressive win against Sri Lanka, when the entire nation was going gung ho about their team’s remarkable rise, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was in a quandary. He had just pulled off an amazing victory and yet when he had to speak about it in front of the media, a nervous Sarfaraz was caught on the video asking whether all the reporters around him spoke only English. His words “Saray English Ke Hain kya (Everyone here is from English news?)” gave trolls on social media a chance to revive the history of Pakistani cricketers stuttering when it came to speaking English. Perhaps because language is hugely dependent on ethos and historically, the majority of Indian players have had better exposure to a society conversing in English, which is not always the case in Pakistan.

Interviews a byproduct of good performances, not vice versa

However, the important point to be noted in both the instances – Tamim Iqbal and Sarfaraz Ahmed is that the two were being interviewed after making their bats talk, and that is all the language a cricketer needs. The interviews were a byproduct of their good performances and not vice versa. The entire purpose of a press conference is to get insights from the players, and if language becomes a barrier while answering the questions, the purpose fails. At the end of the day, it is the reporter who needs answers, not the cricketer.

Captain Gopinath, the founder of Air Deccan, had said something very profound about language and the inherent purpose it should serve. It is just a way of communication, it is not communication. What matters at the end of the day is how competent one is in their respected fields and if actions are indeed louder than words, who cares about words anyway? We have given far too much importance to the English language,players and establishments need to understand that there has to be a line drawn somewhere and perhaps that time has come.

Why not make translators a norm?

While the International Cricket Council has time and again come up with innovative technology for the game, it is also a moral responsibility of sorts on their part to provide translators for teams that are not well versed in English. Although we have seen translators and interpreters on some occasions, –Hassan Ali had one after the semi-final against England – it is yet to become a norm. If not the ICC, Pakistan Cricket Board’s public relations team should arrange for the same.

In almost all global sporting events, translators have been a norm because addressing the press in one’s mother tongue should be a matter of pride and not shame. South American and European footballers speak in their native language and are appreciated for the same. In the Ultimate Fighting Championship as well, you will find that many of the top fighters are from Brazil and their press conferences in their native language bring nothing but adulation.

Indian cricketers face the issue too


It is not that all Indian cricketers have had a good time conversing in English on-camera. Stalwarts like Harbhajan Singh, and even Virender Sehwag, have sometime in the past faltered while speaking the ‘better language’.

Barinder Sran is another example which comes to the mind. Not long ago when the Indian team had visited Zimbabwe, the fast bowler bagged the Man of the Match award on his T20 debut.However, when he had to speak about his dream debut on camera, the Punjab-born Sran didn’t shy away from admitting that he’s not well versed with English. Hailing from a humble background, the youngster called upon teammate Mandeep Singh to act as the translator.

Content matters, not the colour

We have often cribbed when a so-called Bollywood flick churns out colossal sums of money, because content and quality falls by the wayside and glitz and glamour takes precedence. It’s the same in Ahmed’s case; not knowing English does not diminish the quality of cricket his team has played.

There is no harm in laughing at the fallacies of others, if it is all done in good cheer. But when it becomes nasty, as it did on social media in India after the video went viral, it has to be nipped in the bud. Remember, cricket is a game played between the 22-yards, and whatever transpires before and after the event is only for the colour. Content matters, not the colour, players matter, not their language, bat and ball matter, not the microphone.

Until then, even if Pakistan falter at the last step on Sunday, “well played boys!”