Pakistanis celebrate Victory over West Indies at the Queens Park Oval Photo AFP

The victorious Pakistan team Photo AFP

For one who has been fortunate to follow the Pakistan cricket team around the world, many a result at various grounds provided pleasure and joy that cannot be classified. And even though the game of cricket is statistically oriented, people feature in it as players, that `cast of eleven' which through their performances add to the excitement and joy of being `there' when the final ball was being bowled, or the winning stroke executed. At times joy gave in to despair when the national team lost, but overall the travails were full of joy that only a game of cricket can provide. The game of cricket has an attraction of its own and it is hard to fathom what is this lure, this attraction that the game of cricket exercises. One must concede it is in our blood; small boys have it; youths have it; grown up men have it; old men have it and even followers of the game in the garb of writers have it! And no amount of disappointment can change it. This is what takes us writers across the oceans, and international boundaries to follow it, like men possessed.

But cricket is not played in a void; it is played before a crowd, though of late due to the rise and rise of one-day internationals, crowd attendance at tests has dwindled. Yet it attracts one and all; the incompetents as well as those who have never made a run or bowled a ball. They all come, doomed only to a dreary waiting in the ground, turning up punctually on every occasion – hoping for the best, and even, for such is the human heart's buoyancy, expecting it.

Thus, where and on which ground one `nets' the maximum pleasure in watching the game, or reporting on it, is very problematic. For each ground has its own features, its batting strip, the teams playing and the crowd in attendance. It makes it all the more difficult for one, who has traveled the length and breadth of cricketing countries; watching a different team, seen a different set of people watching it, and coming across results, at times unpalatable and, at other times, very much to one's liking.

Saleem Malik Photo AFP

The writer has seen Pakistan record test match triumphs on different grounds, both at home and abroad and those results that can only get recorded once in a lifetime. In ODI's, one has been fortunate to see Javed Miandad's 116 not out (114 balls, 3x4, 3x6), with the last ball a six off Chetan Sharma on April 18, 1986 at Sharjah for a very improbable win over India by one wicket, or that Saleem Malik's 72 not out (36 balls, 11x4, 1x6) demolishing Kapil Dev at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, Feb 18, 1987, reaching his fifty in only 23 balls with nine fours and one six, and earning Pakistan a two-wicket win with three balls to spare after Pakistan were 161/5 at an asking rate of over 8 runs an over.

Wasim Akram Photo AFP

Not only that, the writer was there when Abdul Qadir lofted Courtney Walsh for a last ball six to give Pakistan a one-wicket win against the West Indies at Gaddafi Stadium on Oct 16, 1987 in the World Cup Pool match; or that Saleem Malik's innings of 85 (55 balls, 10x4) against the West Indies at Queen's Park, Port-of-Spain, in the 1988 tour where Pakistan lost, chasing 315/4 or that Wasim Akam's `hat-trick' against the West Indies at Sharjah, Oct 14, 1989 when he bowled Dujon, Marshall and Ambrose to give Pakistan an eleven-run win.

Not only that, the writer was also at Lucknow, Oct 27, 1989 where Pakistan won by six runs from Sri Lanka when Abdul Qadir, bowling the last over with Lanka needing seven runs to win, accounted for Asoka De Silva and Mahanama in two balls after Wasim Akram had bowled Ratnayeke and Labrooy, to bowl out Sri Lanka from 212/6 to 213 all out.

The writer also was at the ground when Saleem Malik, 66 (41 balls, 6x4, 3x6) and Rameez Raja, 85 not out (82 balls, 8x4), added 122 runs in 12 overs, en-route taking 43 runs from Fraser's last three overs for a six-wicket win after Pakistan were 69/3 in the first 16 overs, chasing 195 in rain-curtailed 30 overs at Nagpur, Oct 30, 1989. And again at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, Nov 1, 1989, where Wasim Akram hit Richards for a six on the penultimate ball to beat the West Indies by four wickets, chasing 274 in the final of the Nehru Cup, where Rameez Raja, 35 (31 balls, 6x4) and Saleem Malik, 71 (67 balls, 6x4, 1x6) had done the spade work.

Imran Khan Photo Stamp Publicity (Worthing) Ltd

Another match that brought infinite joy to the writer was at Sydney, Feb 20, 1990 where Pakistan beat Australia by two runs in a Benson and Hedges match when Imran Khan bowled Rackemann on the last ball. And that match against Australia at Sharjah, May 4, 1990, when Wasim Akram recorded his second `hat-trick', bowling Hughes, Rackemann and Alderman, for a 36-run win for Pakistan. And the writer was there at Sharjah (Oct 21, 1991) when Waqar Younis, hit for a six on the first ball of the last over by Bishop, bowled him on the last ball for a one-run win for Pakistan over the West Indies, bowling four dot balls in between.

Aaqib Javed Photo Picturecare

The writer was also there when Aaqib Javed netted a `hat-trick' against India at Sharjah, Oct 25, 1991, trapping Shastri, Azharuddin and Tendulkar, all lbw. And the writer was there when a hapless Waqar Younis, stand-in captain for injured Wasim Akram, saw Pakistan lose to West Indies after Basit Ali's 127 helped them to 284/4, only to see Lara make 153 to give West Indies a win at 285/4 in only 45.3 overs.

Inzamam-ul-Haq Photo AFP

Moin Khan Photo CricInfo Ltd

And the writer was also at Christchurch, where Wasim bowled out New Zealand for a score of less then 170 and Rameez Raja made an unbeaten century to hand New Zealand its first defeat in the 1992 World Cup. The writer also saw Pakistan beat New Zealand at Auckland in the semi-final on March 21, 1992 when Javed Miandad 57 not out, Inzamam-ul-Haq 60 and that last six by Moin Khan helped Pakistan reach the final; beating New Zealand by four wickets, scoring 264/6 chasing 262/7, courtesy a fine 91 by Martin Crowe.

And the writer was also there when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup beating England by 22 runs after making 249/6 when Imran Khan's 72 included the biggest six at MCG and Inzamam-ul-Haq's 42, an innings to remember, and that Wasim Akram blitz that bowled Lamb and Lewis on back-to-back balls on March 25, 1992.

Waqar Younis Photo CricInfo Ltd

But unmatched joy came the writer's way when Pakistan beat South Africa twice in a row in matches where all seemed lost at one stage. At Kingsmead, Durban on Feb 9, 1993, Waqar Younis (5/25) check-mated South Africa cruising at 195/7 needing fourteen runs to win when he bowled Hudson, Mathews and de Villiers in his last over. And the following match at Buffalo Park, East London, Feb 15, 1993 where first Javed Miandad (107) and Asif Mujtaba (74) added 165 runs after Pakistan were 29/3 and then Wasim Akram (5/16) stopped South Africa in their tracks, when they were chasing a revised 172 in rain-curtailed 31 overs, making them slide to 162 all out from 155/5. And the writer also suffered the agony of seeing Pakistan bowled out for the lowest total in ODI's, 43 at Newlands, Cape Town, on Feb 25, 1993 against the West Indies, on a strip unfit to play and since dug up and re-laid. Alas! The record stands.

One was fortunate to be at Lord's, Headingley and the Oval on the 1996 Pakistan tour to England and witnessed dramatic turn arounds in all the three Tests; Pakistan winning at Lord's and Oval when draws seemed more likely and drew at Headingley when England dictated terms. At Lord's, England lost 9/75 in a little more than two hours on the last afternoon. England, resuming at 74/1 on the 5th day, saw-off the morning session. But in the afternoon, Pakistan pace and spin combined superbly, last nine wickets falling for 75, while only 18 runs were added after lunch, giving Pakistan a win by 164 runs. And as for the crowd; they never warmed up, barring a small Pakistan-leaning crowd.

Saeed Anwar Photo CricInfo Ltd

Mushtaq Ahmed Photo CricInfo Ltd

Likewise at Headingley, the spectators were saved from total boredom by splendid batting of Ijaz Ahmed and Moin Khan for Pakistan and Stewart and Knight for England, yet most never got involved. At the Oval, Pakistan again won; this time by 9 wickets, and most of the crowd just watched and trooped away. Nary an emotion or even a sign of disgust reflected. Only moderate clapping greeted Wasim Akram's 300th wicket in tests. England (326) to Pakistan's 521/8 declared (Saeed Anwar, 176, Saleem Malik, 100*) reached 138/2 at lunch on the 5th day at the Oval and when a draw appeared a possibility, Mushtaq Ahmed, bowling unchanged, broke their resistance and the home team lost their last 8 wickets for 76 runs in 27 overs. Mushtaq's 6/78 deserved more than a few customary claps and the real appreciation never came about from the dull, staid audience.

Unfortunately, it was the same when Wasim Akram recorded `hat-tricks' at Lahore and Dhaka against Sri Lanka in the Asian Test championship matches. And the Lahorites at Gaddafi Stadium were really disappointing.

The writer has also watched matches where home teams lost and where `neutral' teams played on supposedly `electrifying' crowd related grounds. Like that World Cup final between England and Australia at Eden Gardens, Calcutta (Nov 8, 1987), Australia winning by 7 runs and that semi-final between England and South Africa at Sydney (March 22, 1992), where South Africa lost by 19 runs due to a confusing `rain-rule'; a 12 minute downpour arriving when South Africa wanted 22 runs to win from 13 balls. At first, the target was reduced to 22 runs from seven balls, but as the teams took field, the scoreboard showed it had been adjusted to 21 runs from one ball. England were embarrassed, South Africa distraught, and the crowd just groaned.

Similarly when West Indies beat South Africa, seemingly on a roll in a quarter-final match of the 1996 World Cup at Karachi by 19 runs, the supposedly boisterous crowd simply came in to the ground and walked away, undemonstrative.

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