Where is Imran Nazir?

Our cricketing sentiments died an untimely death with the demise of our batting order earlier in the World Cup and with the break down of our “potent bowling attack” in the later part of the tournament. The hype that PCB marketing gurus so cleverly built up came tumbling down like a house of cards. The nation was in agony, pain and felt let down. The natural course should have the rolling of heads, and that did happen, but not the head that needed to roll first. Instead, customary to our popular culture committee was formed to investigate the reasons for our dismal performance in the World Cup. There were little expected of the committee, which did not disappoint its critics when it came out with zilch. Waqar was ditched by the powers to be, as we ditched Taliban, in the great national interest, or national cricketing interests if you will. Rashid Latif was crowned the new chief of our men yielding willow and leather. Rashid is to be the captain of men in green for one year with a mandate to “groom” the youngsters and to shape a “new look” Pakistani cricket team. Before we go any further we must remind our readers that Pakistan in addition to holding various international cricketing honors, has the honor of having the maximum numbers of captains, coaches and managers than any other team in the history of cricket. Well-done Pakistan!

Rashid Latif is fortunate to hold this mantle the second time around—the first time he was rewarded for being a whistle-blower and the second time since his whistle-blowing buddy is now at the helm of affairs at the PCB as far as selection is concerned. It was no surprise that Aamir Sohail, a ‘bosom buddy’ of our captain, would opt for anyone other than Rashid since their strongman Waqar has now been declared a “person non gratis”. We all know Rashid to be an upright and man of integrity and have made valuable contributions towards promoting cricket in this part of the world, but whether he possess the necessary tools to “groom” youngsters and be the catalyst required to gel the “unpredictable” Pakistani cricket team into a fighting unit is another matter. To be a leader of the men you have to rise above the inherent human frailties and Rashid beyond doubt is not the kind of man who has the character or the mettle to ward off any temptation to settle the score, so to speak.

This brings us to the question that our title has raised---whatever happened to Imran Nazir? The selection committee headed by illustrious Aamir Sohail, who made a mockery of himself and our national team in India during the 1996 World Cup, and our re-found mentor cum hero Rashid Latif selected a team for the upcoming Sarah Cup___ an ominous sign for our cricket indeed, however, no Imran Nazir, one wonder why? Like so many of my ‘informed” cricket lovers in the country, I have the right to ask both Rashid and Aamir as to why a young man of Imran’s talent and skill was omitted whilst mediocre like Faisal Iqbal were selected?
Does his exclusion have anything to do with the rumors of an attempted coup by our legendary fast bowler during the “domestic series” against Australia? Or is it anything to do with the commercials that he has shared with Waseem Akram a local confectionary/biscuit company? There were reports of a last ditch effort by Waseem Akram to secure captaincy of the national team during the Pakistan-Australia series played in the UAE. Inzamam, Afridi, Shoaib, Youhanna, Saqlain to a certain degree, and the poor lad Imran Nazir all sided with Waseem in his quest to secure the top slot for the 2003 World Cup captaincy of the national team. It almost worked! Waseem was given a go ahead by the General before the conclusion of African series that he would be heading Pakistan during the World Cup, however it was the impudence of our legendary fast bowler that forced the General to change his mind and hastily appointed Waqar as the Captain of the Pakistani team.

Waseem’s injudicious remarks in a press conference in South Africa, whilst made the General look bad, it also sealed the fate of Imran Nazir from ever playing for the national side again. After all Inzamam, Youhanna, Saqlain, Afridi, and Shoaib were indispensable” at the time, obviously someone had to take a fall__ and it was Imran Nazir because Saeed Anwar had shown signs of recovery from his injury and thus was available for the selectors. The final nails in Imran’s coffin were the continous questioning of the Chief Selector Wasim Bari about his exclusion by the media, cricket lovers, and cricketing brains alike. This has been his misfortune the General has made it point that come what may Imran Nazir shall never see the light of the day as long as he remains PCB chief and Aamir Sohail his premier henchman. It is ironic to note that the General, our PCB chief who has not elected to resign following his team’ s failure in the recent World Cup, as is the norm, has fallen prey to what all army generals are known for. English it seems, with the exception of Miandad, is the order of the day. With the exception of Imran Khan and his progeny, Asif Iqbal in his later days, and Intikhab Alam of the yesteryears, the so called younger generation of Pakistani cricketers is not known for their prowess of English language. Ramiz thrived on it and was rightly placed as far as General was concerned, owing to General’s prejudice to the ‘natives’ able to converse in the former master’s tongue. A prerequisite that General and his colleagues were tested at Kohat when they appeared for an entrance examination for the prime army institution of the country. It is no wonder that Aamir Sohail has been entrusted to look over the affairs of PCB selection committee---after all he made favorable impression on the English loving listeners of this country, General included, by lambasting his fellow countryman (Afridi in this case) as useless, in English of course. And it is no surprise that Afridi has been dropped from the national side “permanently” as reported by a national daily. So the bottom line is Afridi is out as being “useless’ as envisaged by Aamir Sohail, an average player in his heyday, and Waqar has been “wasted” as an acceptable risk, in the national interest of course!

But what about Imran Nazir? He was doing well before the “home series” against Australia, he was instrumental in getting a wonderful opening stance with Shahid Afridi during the Shahrjah Cup Final in 2001, and for a Pakistani batsman to have won praise from the western commentators, otherwise averse to acknowledging a Pakistani talent, is a surprise drop from the national side. If there are no cricketing reasons for his exclusion, one must credit to this to the ‘politics’ of Pakistani cricket that has lost a number of good players due to “in politics” and due to the power of the people who matters. One must not forget Majid for his belligerency, Asif for his involvement in what was to become the worst nightmare of the cricketing world, and Imran’s quest for absolute power--- vis-à-vis the untimely demise of many a promising cricketers such as Iqbal Qasim and the wicket keeper Qasim Umar. Is it going to be Imran Nazir this time, one wonders?

We are sure that the kith and kin of Imran Nazir are cursing the ‘unseen” the powers that elude us with reference to three-dimensional frame of being. I am sure that his mother curses the ‘bad eye” of the neighbor or the suspect relative, but is that the case. I am sure that is not the case. Imran Nazir has fallen victim to the power game that we as Pakistani play so well yet we deny it publicly. The game we are all familiar with… survival of the fittest as is the case in the jungle…