The Circus Comes to Town

Talking exclusively to The Sunday Express from Karachi — where he was tying up the last loose ends before India flies in to the only Pakistani megapolis for the first of the five One-day Internationals — Sohail Ahmed Khan (formerly a captain in the Pakistan Army, and now a Senior Superintendent of Police, who heads the Interior Ministry’s security contingent in charge of the Indian team throughout its 30-odd days on Pakistani soil) says he will leave nothing to chance.

‘‘The security will be flawless and professional in the extreme; it will cater for all aspects and eventualities,’’ he says. At the same time he insists that his forces will maintain a balance. ‘‘We will not overdo it; after all, we have to take care of the comfort of the visitors as well.’’

Zakir Khan, the former Pakistan Test cricketer who currently heads the PCB’s Cricket Operations — the department responsible for everything relating to international teams and tours, from logistics to lodgings, from security to facilitation — has said that he expects a crowd at the airport and also at the warm-up game at the Gaddafi Stadium. Though Zakir did not divulge the details, the PCB and the city administration has organised a warm welcome for the Indian team as well.

The anticipation levels at Lahore, indeed, around the whole of Pakistan, are exceptionally high. Lahore, especially the old walled city and the mohallahs, are a place where people gather at street corners, small cafes and dhabas. Normally, they talk about everything under the sun, mostly politics, and mostly in a light-hearted manner, liberally laced with choice Punjabi swear words. These days cricket fever is at such a high pitch that the conversation is exclusively limited to the Indian tour and what is likely to happen during the rubber. The speculation is mostly centred on whether pace ace Shoaib Akhtar will last the series, and if he does what impact he will have.

Everybody is scrambling for a few tickets for the last of the two One-day Internationals (of five) that take place here. And there are thousands who make a round or three everyday of the Gaddafi Stadium — it also serves as the headquarters of Pakistan cricket, and here the lights are burning bright in all offices till very late in the night — to inquire about when the tickets will go on sale.

Such is their enthusiasm to stand in a queue to ensure entry for themselves that PCB chairman Shaharyar M Khan himself had to address a press conference on Friday to announce that tickets at each venue would go on sale a week before a particular match.

For the first time ever, the PCB offered tickets online, and these have been mostly snapped up by the Indians. News and pictures from across the border about people thronging the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were being received with interest here.

Lahore is expecting something like 10,000 visitors, and Shaharyar Khan, a former career diplomat who retired as Pakistan’s foreign secretary, says that the Board, through the Pakistan government, has ensured the establishment of a visa kiosk at the Wagah border. Anyone holding a valid ticket will be able to cross over to this side and watch the matches.

The Gaddafi Stadium is counted as one of the most modern and pretty cricket venues in the world. When it was spruced up for the 1996 World Cup final, its outer wall and main entrance were redesigned in a majestic red-brick Mughal style. The lush green outfield, a quality pitch, the lights and electronic scoreboard, expansive seating areas, the Gaddafi Stadium has it all. And for the matches against India, it’s likely to get a full, boisterous house.

Lahore has never been a happy hunting ground for the Indians. The last time an India took the field here in 1997 with Sachin Tendulkar leading it, it was hammered to all parts of the ground by Ijaz Ahmed in one of the most destructive innings in limited-overs history. Before that, in 1978, after another revival of ties between the two nations after a hiatus spanning 17 years, the hosts had won the second Test here with Zaheer Abbas’ supremely elegant double hundred swiftly bringing the curtain down on India’s famed quartet of spinners, ensuring a great win for Pakistan. The last Test between Pakistan and India on this venue was during the 1989-90 series — a high-scoring draw in which Sanjay Manjrekar and Shoaib Mohammad scored double centuries, and Javed Miandad made the occasion memorable for himself and cricket historians by knocking another hundred against India in his 100th Test.

Both Miandad and Manjrekar will be here at the Gaddafi Stadium when the two teams meet each other in three encounters, the former as Pakistan coach and the later as a commentator on satellite television.

Coming back to the talk of the town: the perceptive Lahorites are saying that even at its weakest, Pakistan is good enough to prevail over India. As a case in point, they mention the 1987 series in India when the Pakistan squad was not packed with big names yet it won the Test and one-day rubber, the latter with an overwhelming 5-1 margin. Saurav Ganguly and his charges are most welcome here, but they should not expect it will be extend to the middle by the Pakistani cricketers, or by their unforgiving followers.

(The writer is Sports Editor of The Nation, Lahore)