Former Pakistani cricketers should be the last people on earth one should take seriously. Their remarks about Indian cricket, good or bad, should always be taken with a pinch of salt. Like Mohammad Amir recently made bizarre remarks like “Abhishek Sharma is a slogger” or “India won’t reach the semis in the T20 World Cup”. And then there are others who will say it’s India’s Cup to lose as they are out of the ordinary.
It’s a game of cricket all right, but why would you call Abhishek a slogger or say India won’t be in the semis?! Abhishek boasts a solid batting T20I average of 34.13 at an extraordinary strike of 190+. And most of these runs have against top oppositions. There is no logic in calling him a slogger. Not to mention, he is the world’s number one T20I batsman. Similarly, why wouldn’t the number one team reach the semis? Yes, anything can happen in cricket but being former cricketers they should talk logic. They are former cricketers, not fortune-tellers or prophecy-makers.
Why do most of these former Pakistani cricketers make these remarks? To understand, we have to dive deep into their mindset that’s a product of the kind of society they are part of. Ever since the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan in 2009, their cricket has been on a downward spiral. But the hangover from their heydays, from the nineties and even early 2000s lingers on, sadly.
With Indian cricket, it is totally the other way around. Having in mind the history between both the countries, one can safely say they are jealous of India but since the Indians are so good now, they don’t know what to say. They go overboard with everything, be it praise or criticism or jealousy.
Of course, they know India is a big population and there is plenty of scope for their remarks. It brings them money — all thanks to the nature of social media nowadays — as well as keeps them relevant.
Besides, they are not groomed. Most of them come from very humble backgrounds and have no education to speak of. The PCB doesn’t believe in grooming them either. Hang on, the PCB needs to groom itself first.
Also, Pakistan has the biggest Punjabi population in the world. Cracking jokes is a Punjabi thing. With no education and grooming, that can really go out of hand, as it has. As a country they are struggling on all counts, which is not to say that India ticks all the boxes – we have to be honest — but clearly cricket is all they have got now, and they are hanging onto it, for dear life. As a nation we can’t control what they do but we can certainly control ourselves by paying no attention to what they say or do. It’s not worth it. And, let’s also not troll them because they appear to have reached a stage where even trolling feels like a compliment.
