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Journalism of Courage
Briefing the media after their exit from the World Cup, captain Inzamam-ul-Haq retreated to the gloom of the Pakistan dressing room while coach Bob Woolmer walked aimlessly through an army of Irish supporters.
Woolmer was asked if coaching a team as unpredictable as Pakistan was the most difficult job in the world. “You will have to wait for my book to get that answer,” he said. Then, as an afterthought: “Let me sleep over it, I will tell you tomorrow”. Hours later, he was dead.
The shock of being knocked out of the World Cup within five days of arrival in West Indies, its second lowest score ever in the competition and a knock-out punch from lightweights of world cricket hadn’t gone well with the Pakistan team.
When Woolmer was asked if he had any message for the Pakistan fans, all he could manage was sorry, the team let them down.
Inzamam called it the “worst day of my cricketing career”. Asked about his journey from 1992 to 2007, from being the brightest young Pakistan star to emerge in his first World Cup to the captain who will probably have to live with the ignominy of the humiliation in the last, he said: “Every player doesn’t get a grand farewell. As for my future, I am in no position right now to think about it.” Did he fear a hostile reception at home? “Koi reception nahin hoga (There will be no reception),” was the quiet reply.
The knives were already out. There was already buzz that Woolmer’s contract, which was to run out in a few months, would no t be renewed and Inzamam would be asked to step down. Woolmer himself didn’t sound too keen on an international assignment anymore. “I know it is just a game. Cricket coaching is something I do well but I have had enough of travelling and staying in hotels. I will have to give it thought,” he said.
