The
Cricket Column
Tauqir Zia Should Leave His Son Alone to Grow
By
Zafar Altaf
IN
18TH CENTURY Charles Dickens wrote a book called Dombey and son.
In those days male primogeniture was as important as it is modern
day Pakistan.
The
gist of the book written in two years was about Dombey who sought
a son and preferred a son over his daughter. The first born was
a girl and that was a big disappointment. The wife died giving
birth to a boy the second born. It turned out that the son was
frail and weak in health.
The
book by critics is considered a psychological masterpiece and
Dombey’s obvious attraction to the boy gains quite a lot
of prominence in the book. The boy dies in infancy and Dombey
marries again in order to have what we all crave for these days,
a male primogeniture so that the family line could continue.
That
is the gist of the book that was and is. Its relevance today is
with that of the father who insists that his son was and is selected
on merit. Merit is ridiculed when the father has a top position.
It
was Eisenhower, Chief Commander of the Allied forces, who asked
the son of a British general: ‘What does your mother say’.
The quip came when the general’s son was the ADC to his
father and sent to Gen. Eisenhower. So in every walk of life this
is held to be quite contrary to actual status in life.
When
there is a power position what do you do about possible conflicts
of interests that come about. It is perfectly normal for this
to happen. That is when one has to transcend one’s position.
It is then that manliness comes in to play.
General
(Retired) Tauqir has not been furthering his son’s position
that is what every one tells me. Fine. That is acceptable on face
value.
I
am also told that the rich and the powerful have not had it as
well in this country as the poor have it. It stinks. The poor
go to the grave much earlier. Their life is aborted sooner than
one expects. The rich and the powerful do not have this done to
them. The will of God is different for different people. The poor
only inherit the earth but they do so in heaven. The Bible is
full of it. The Lord is thy shepherd and the innocent shall inherit
the earth.
The
love of the son and one’s siblings aside does the PCB not
think that by including him they have taken away the right of
another child? Are they so insensitive to the game and its traditions?
What is the problem? Is it in the head? Is it because power base
is to be pleased.
The
matches that Tauqir’s son played showed that he had very
little talent. In fact I saw him bat and the first ball that he
played was something between a paddle and being paidal
[pedestrian]. The shot was so extraordinary that it went high
in the air and the wicket keeper merely had to come to the wicket
position and take the catch. In bowling his feats cannot be repeated.
He had 6 for 46 and no wicket.
Now
if he was so red hot why was he the fourth or fifth bowler? The
strategy is fantastic and the obvious collusion between the selectors
and the Manager/Coach speaks volumes about the decisions. Hanif
used to do it for Mushtaq. The tail was handed over to Mushtaq
to bowl to and take care off while the main bowler Intikhab was
twiddling his thumbs. Later on if Mushtaq had some problems with
batting it could always be indicated that he was also a bowler
and performs well.
So
the team for the youngsters has been selected and Junaid, the
son, was asked to lead it. This was declined by the super fair
PCB chairman. Good solid publicity. The supreme sacrifice. But
I think the selectors should impress that what they have done
is correct and Junaid should be the captain. In fact please ask
Rashid Latif to move over and give the captaincy to Junaid of
the senior team. That would be in order.
Junaid
unlike Dombey’s son is strong physically but seems to be
weak mentally. His mind is to be converted to some other kind
of thinking. For instance can he take his kicks as they come or
is he mother–daddy boy.
In
cricket one should not mince words. The best of them have their
bad moments. The worst of them have their good moments. There
are no bad cricketers and no good ones. It is determined by the
number of good days or the number of bad days. But seriously if
Junaid is to be a cricketer in the right sense of the word he
must get away from the clutches of his father and the surrogate
fathers-selectors.
That
is one. I was also some one’s son. I was captain of Government
college team [not so third class institutional team where captains
are based on designations] and we had won all the tournaments
that were played. My father, as all fathers asked me, your name
is not figuring in the newspapers. My father had never played
cricket. And my reply to him was ‘Have I ever told you anything
about the law’ [he was a lawyer]. He understood that it
was not right for him to interfere in these matters and that autonomy
lies where it is determined.
Tough,
but he was a caring father and he allowed us the leeway that was
necessary to develop on our own steam. Now can Junaid have a free
way or will he be subjected to the will of the parents? Cricket
is a pretty autonomous way of living and thinking.
Anything
short of this is not worth the thinking. Can you take away the
second car of the PCB so that the son can be without a car or
do we give the PCB boss a third car so that the son can tow the
second car with a piece of rope?
Give
him what he wants but leave him alone. He may be your son but
does not mean that he is not the son of Pakistan and that he should
not be allowed to develop. Make a man of him otherwise read what
Abe Lincoln had to write about his son and follow the US President’s
dictates; for he was a man and took some decisions that were for
the good of the country and not for personal gain.
Let
the toast of Pakistan be different from now on. Let us develop
persons that will have some convictions and independence of thought.
We have lost a lot of our boys by the undue indulgence of parents.
The first time I earned some money from the game my mother said
that this money is from sports and should be used for the uplift
of the poor and the needy [meaning the orphans].
That
is where all this earning went. But here we have free doling of
money as if it is their parent's for work not done. What kind
of a culture are we building? Mother and Father desist from thinking
that your son is the only one who matters. All the sons of Pakistan
matter. Take a good look at your attitudes and think of the greats.
Think Don Bradman and if you don’t know what and how he
thought, ask me.
The
writer has been Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board, Secretary of
the Board, Manager Pakistan Cricket Team and Chairman of Selection Committee
