A lone ranger lost in a team sport

Now, a bit late, he has spoken to Imran Khan. He should have done so four years ago. Like Shoaib, but with a lot more class, Imran was a connoisseur of social life, he coveted beauty too. Unlike Shoaib, Imran was an extremely committed, disciplined cricketer who trained hard. If his social life rocked, so did his cricket, he was more famous than Shoaib, more glamorous, more of a team man. He understood people and that made him one of the greatest leaders of men in cricket history.

Shoaib would have flourished under him, might have taken 300 wickets by now. Or he might have been ejected, thrown out, never to return. I think the former because he is too good a cricketer. Imran would have shown him the future, cut out all the pathetic showmanship. Shoaib is difficult to handle, largely I suspect, because he seems to take pride in being difficult. Javed Akhtar had the right song for him hamko hamee se bachalo. How do you protect a man from himself?

There is no doubt Pakistan will miss him in the middle. But they will also miss an irritant. They are now a key player short but they might just arrive a better team for it. One man’s absence is another man’s opportunity, a prima donna’s absence can sometimes be the glue on which the rest of the team comes together. It will be interesting to see if that happens for much will depend on whether Pakistan focus on who they have rather than who they don’t.

It won’t help them that another of their glamour boys, Shahid Afridi, has spoken of lack of support from the coach and the captain; of how he might have achieved more with their support. It is always a sign of danger when individual players look anywhere but within to explain erratic performances. Now he talks of the highs of hitting sixes and you must wonder if that is all there is to Test cricket.

In Pakistan the cult of the individual rules. Occasionally it is buried by a common desire, as when they play India. Then they are a different team for their biggest enemy is already vanquished. This will be their biggest challenge in this series for it could render all pre-tour assessments irrelevant. Every report so far makes India favourite but it would be necessary to treat those with caution.

Pakistan have a mercurial top order but a very good middle and lower order. For India to do well, the new ball must get into the middle order quickly. But you ignore that top order at peril. Salman Butt is a fine young player, anyone with a hundred in Australia cannot be a marginal player, and a year ago Yasir Hameed was in my short list of the three best young batsmen in the world. If those two and Younis Khan can produce a start, Pakistan can build big totals with Abdur Razzaq, Kamran Akmal and Afridi likely to be batting at 6, 7 and 8. In between they have two outstanding players, one burdened with the captaincy, the other a miffed ex-vice-captain.

They bowl well too, not spectacularly, not without Shoaib, but steadily. Mohammad Sami leads their attack now but he is rather like a politician at a rally, he promises much. His figures in international cricket are ordinary for someone who seems to have it all. He bustle in, he has the pace, loads of stamina but I wonder if he is short on belief.

It must be in the head for he has everything. Sometimes that isn’t good for you don’t try hard enough. That is not the case with Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan who is a simple, honest cricketer who tries harder than anyone else. He was the biggest beneficiary of Shoaib’s injury in Australia.

Make no mistake, Pakistan have the men to win the series. Now whether they have the team to do so, I do not know. Nobody really does.