David Warner is not entirely at fault in his recent drink-driving case.
His Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings gave him a few days’ break to go back to Australia and return in time for their next game. The long gap between matches allowed the Aussie legend to spend some nice time with his family and friends. However, these types of cases are not common in franchise cricket, so why was Warner allowed to go?
What else could be done? If you are in Pakistan and not playing cricket, there is nothing else to do. There is always some terror attack waiting to happen. After their recent attack on Afghanistan, the chances of that went up manifold. The Taliban had threatened them in the wake of those attacks with retaliation.
Also, being an Islamic republic, alcohol consumption is prohibited in Pakistan for the local population, which doesn’t mean they don’t drink. They do it illegally. The Pakistani elites are quite notorious in that regard. Foreigners, however, can consume alcohol but drinking in a free society is a lot different from drinking in a society where it’s considered an anathema. When one wants to have a drink, it’s the freedom that one relishes, probably not so much the drink.
So, Warner can’t be blamed for getting carried away when he returned home for a brief time. He knew he hadn’t had many days at his disposal to have a great time. Can you blame the poor sod for drinking too much in Sydney and then getting caught by police for drink-driving after he failed a breath-analyser test? You live only once! That’s what Pakistan, the country, can do to you. In fact, any country where religion rules the roost.
However, there was a time when Pakistan had a totally different reputation. Former captain and prime minister Imran Khan, presently in jail, once said that after their matches in India back in the day, when they went back to Pakistan, they thought they were living in some developed country. India was so poor at the time.
Word has it that there was a time when international photo journalists, when they ran out of batteries, crossed the border to get them in Pakistan because India didn’t have them. They were expensive batteries made in the first world.
There is a lot of dissent inside Pakistan
That was a different time, before the country became fanatically religious. Famous Pakistani nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy has said many times that nowadays there is no fun activity in Pakistan. According to him, movies, theatre, and literature have largely died there. He added that unless someone is fond of praying five times a day, there is not much to do in Pakistan. Another famous Karachi writer said that other than eating meat-heavy food items, Pakistan had nothing to offer today, and the people of the country were increasingly becoming unhinged.
So, can one really blame Warner? He is now back in Pakistan, and more humiliation has come to his lot. Karachi Kings had won their first three games in style; however, in their fourth game, the one after his return, they came a cropper with captain Warner getting out for a duck off his very first ball and his team losing by a whopping 159 runs. First, so much embarrassment came his way after the drunk-driving scandal and then the ignominious defeat upon return! One can’t help but sympathise with him.
