Viv Richards was the in form batsmen in the final of the third World Cup in 1983, and when he went out to bat against Kapil Dev’s Indian team, he was thinking of doing what he did the best - thrash the bowlers, upset the fielders and win the match for his country. But he didn’t count on the fact that Kapil Dev was not just as all-rounder, he was THE all-rounder, who displayed his athletic prowess in the field when he ran nearly 30 yards and held an over-the-shoulder catch to dismiss Richards, to help his side defend the paltry target of 184, and take home the Cup.
This is how catches win matches for teams that play with their heart out, give their best to rise on the occasions and display to the world their fearless attitude. Sadly, the game has changed so much that 27 years after Kapil’s Devils won the tournament through a memorable catch, their neighbours Pakistanis are still trying to figure how matches can be won, without holding onto catches!
The brilliance of the two W’s - Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis - in the 90s saw many Pakistanis opt for fast bowling, yet all one thought off was to bowl quick and shatter the stumps. Those who were a little better than the rest would also go for leg before wickets, but not many depended on the support of the 9 men in the field (apart from the bowler and the wicket keeper), because the fastest bowlers in the world didn’t rely on them either.
That’s why the 90s saw the decline in Pakistan fielding. With Imran Khan retiring after the 1992 World Cup victory and Javed Miandad losing the battle to aging, only Saleem Malik, Inzamam ul Haq and Ijaz Ahmed were considered safe fielders, any where on the field. They could throw the ball quickly, hit the stumps from a distance and hold on the chances given by the batsmen. Although Aamir Sohail was a safe fielder as well, he had his share of dropped catches, the most famous being the one in the first match of the 1992 World Cup where he dropped Desmond Haynes off Wasim Akram, in an attempt to show off his celebration skills.
Aamir’s opening partner Saeed Anwar, who has scored more ODI centuries than any other Pakistani, would usually drop a catch after scoring a fifty, and the player whose catch he would drop would eventually go on to score a fifty himself. Mohammad Yousuf (Yousuf Youhana) was always suspect when it came to fielding and his failure to make it big in Twenty20 cricket has more to do with his fielding than his batting. Younis Khan was seen as an icon in the fielding department before he dropped Martin Guptill in the semi final of last year’s Champions’ Trophy, thus effectively throwing the ’good fielder’ tag away.
Teams that have managed to win the World Cup after Pakistan - Sri Lanka and Australia - had superior fielders backing their bowlers. Arjuna Ranatunga was plump, yet he never let the ball past him. Chubby Mark Taylor was the best slips fielder in modern cricket, and same goes for Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Roshan Mahanama, who rose to the occasions whenever the ball came to them.
Sadly Pakistan hasn’t been as gifted as the other teams in the fielding department. That has more to do with the ground conditions in the country which don’t allow fielders to jump around without injuring themselves. But then, Bangladesh has the same cricket structure and grounds, their fielding is far superior than Pakistan’s. Even the Afghanistan team seemed more agile and alert than the likes of Saeed Ajmal, Salman Butt, Abdur Razzaq and Fawad Alam, who play for Pakistan, without their fielding caps on.
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