BY MAHEEN SADIQ
There’s a lot to be said about the cricket tournament,
especially our match against India. And it has a lot more to do with
Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Gul’s bad luck and Sachin Tendulkar’s good
fortune.
Cricket speaks to our nation in a way our government
never has. And Shahid Afridi addressed the nation in a way our president
never has – unselfish, genuine, modest. So when Afridi apologised to
Pakistan, millions listened and were humbled by the gesture. Our eyes
filled with tears and our hearts with love and a strange kind of sorrow.
Shahid Afridi, you need not apologise to the nation. We are proud of you
and our entire cricket team!
You didn’t bring back the cup but any excitement, any
happiness, any hope that Pakistanis have felt in the past few months is
because of your brilliance. We’ve been hearing a lot of “Pakistan needs
something to celebrate” but what Pakistanis really needed was something
to look forward to and the green team gave us that with the anticipation
of each game played.
The funny thing about cricket is that it can unite the
nation through a victory or a loss. It would have been wonderful to go
out on the streets and celebrate with dhols, etc, as we did when
we won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2009. But even after our loss
yesterday, the people of Pakistan, in their state of disbelief, came out
and shared their sorrow. Misery loves company. Cars on streets, people
driving around slowly, quietly, patiently. No honking, no cursing,
nowhere to go, nowhere to escape. It was surreal. This only goes to show
what cricket means to us and the massive void it fills for our nation.
Cricketers, you made us patriotic. You made us
passionate. You made us proud. And these precious adjectives are some
that Pakistan rarely gets the chance to associate itself with.
So again, Afridi, your apology is appreciated but not
needed. You conducted yourself with patience, grace and dignity,
encouraging your own with a smile and congratulating the opponents with
an even bigger smile. You didn’t win the semi-finals but you won our
hearts. Thank you for showing the world we are not an aggressive nation.
To Pakistan, I propose this: if there’s anyone who needs
to apologise, it’s us. So to Afridi and the team, I apologise for the
pressure I put on you to win the World Cup. It comes from my own
shortcomings. So lazy and so cowardly am I that I am incapable of
creating for myself a reason to celebrate Pakistan. Since as far as I
can remember, my patriotism has tenaciously clung to cricket. It is
unfair. I know.
To those Pakistanis who thought this was a match between
Hindus and Muslims, I’m glad India won. This was never a battle between
nations or a jihad against Hindus. It was a semi-final cricket
match and if a loss is what it took to be reminded of this then I’m glad
we lost. Victory would have only made you gloat over something you had
wrong all along anyway.
However, if there was one thing I was relieved to
discover, it was that we don’t hate India. We may hate America but we
don’t hate India. No burning of the Indian flag, no bitter remarks, no
threatening reaction. Phew! Just healthy competition and a pure love for
the game.
So we don’t hate India. In fact, we hate Zardari. What
pleased me even more were the numerous text messages and Facebook
statuses I came across that poked fun at Zardari. My personal favourite
is: “We congratulate India on winning the semi-finals. As a goodwill
gesture, India can keep Pakistan’s prime minister. And if it wins the
finals, we will give our president too.” Aah, Zardari jokes. They never
get old. He’s our scapegoat now. It’s his fault we lost. Somehow.
That being said, think. It’s time we stop asking of our
cricketers something we should have been asking of ourselves. Or our
government. Let’s find ourselves a reason to be patriotic and celebrate
Pakistan and let cricket be a sport, not an identity. If we all just
took a little responsibility, maybe our beloved team can finally
approach the pitch as cricketers, not as soldiers entering the
battlefield. We owe it to them.
Welcome back, boys!
(This article was posted on the website of Maati.tv – a
Web-based TV channel that highlights social issues of concern to
Pakistanis – on March 31, 2011.)
