Cricket: The Refugee of International Cricket, Pakistan
The situation is dire for international cricket in Pakistan. Since no international matches can be played in the country, the green uniformed players have become cricketing refugees of a sort. The oddest aspect of this is that Pakistan now plays its home matches against other teams in a third, neutral country. At the moment it does not look likely that the situation will change and Pakistan will continue to play its international matches abroad.
This strange situation was brought on by the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team in March, 2009. The deadly attack killed seven people and injured six Sri Lankan team members and their coach. This attack had such a huge affect on the game in Pakistan that it led to all international matches being banned in the country. It was a very sad state of affairs that the government and cricket council of the country could not provide adequate security to a visiting team. A lot of fingers were pointed at the time and many people were blamed but nothing really happened in the end. The Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt did not resign. No terrorist cell was destroyed; nothing really momentous took place. It seemed as if the country and the governing body of the sport just said that there was nothing they could do and accepted the indefinite ban.
Even before the attack on the Sri Lankan team took place, teams had refused to play cricket in Pakistan. As early as 2008, England, Australia and New Zealand had all pulled out of playing matches in the country. So did India in early 2009 after the deadly terrorist attack in Mumbai. Pakistan was all set to bring cricket back in a big way to the country; it had earlier been picked to co-host the up-coming World Cup but following the attack on the visiting Sri Lankans, their dreams all faded. They were banned from holding any international matches in the country for the foreseeable future and a little part of cricket's spirit died that day along with the seven murdered people.
It seems likely that cricket in Pakistan will never recover fully from what happened last year. It seems that unless drastic steps are taken to counter the situation no international team will come to play in Pakistan and we will lose one of the most popular past times in the country. Pakistani cricket has now moved house and like some poor individual escaping the horrors of a war torn country, it has taken refuge in England. As no international matches can be played in Pakistan the latest cricket series against Australia is being played at Lord's in London. This situation is so strange that locals are baffled to understand why Pakistan cannot play its home matches back home. They do not know just how bad the situation is in the country and how dangerous it is for visiting cricket teams.
This strange fact of playing 'home' matches abroad has not stopped the Pakistani team from making demands though. Waqar Younis, the coach of the team, had apparently demanded a pitch that would favour spin bowling and batting. The request was turned down by the English curators of the grounds. It is odd that Pakistan is playing in a different country because they cannot fix the security situation back home and yet they are making demands to try and better their chances of winning the series. The English ground curators probably did not sympathise with the Pakistani coach and felt they should happily take what they are given.
It seems that no international cricketing events will take place in Pakistan for the foreseeable future. Well at least until 2015 that is. The Pakistan Cricket Council had asked the ICC (International Cricket Council) to allot some international matches to the country in 2012 but the request was turned down. The ICC has since stated that the situation will be reviewed at a later stage and matches may be held in Pakistan in 2015 but not before. It is a sad state of affairs that the one sporting event that brings a whole nation together in Pakistan is nowhere near returning.
International cricket will return to Pakistan, one day, but a lot will have to be done before that happens. The security situation will obviously have to improve, but also the cricket governing body in the country along with the government will have to take some very positive steps in the right direction. If not, international cricket matches may be lost to Pakistan forever.
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