Ahmer Naqvi
What my time with the PSL taught me
Watching a cricket tournament from behind the scenes can teach you a lot about the sport and players you spend all your time obsessing about
Ahmer Naqvi
03-Mar-2016
Last week I returned from then incredible experience of working for the first edition of the PSL. I wanted to write about it without serving as a propagandist, and felt the best way to do so would be to discuss my own experiences.
Like many cricket writers who I consider my peers, I came to this profession largely via my couch and computer screen. Rather than being a journalist used to travelling on tours and visiting practice sessions, I was a fan who commented on what he saw on TV and in press conferences and the like. In many ways then, my experience of heading digital media for the PSL was one where I learnt a lot of things that journalists might already know of.
For starters, I was introduced to the "lobby culture", which might be common to all sports tours but seems to have evolved into a carnival when it involves Pakistani cricket. The lobby of the hotel the teams stayed in was constantly thronged by friends, fans, hangers-on, journalists, freeloaders and everyone in between. Anytime you walked outside, the large sofas would be abuzz with people involved in cricket. There were goosebump moments when a few big names ran into each other and shared some words. Mostly though, there were lots of selfies and requests for tickets, and old uncle types keeping an eye out for who was seen leaving or arriving with whom.
Full postCan a Pakistan captain be judged on stats alone?
Numbers tell a story, but they can be misleading because they don't factor in the chaos that anyone who leads the side needs to deal with
Ahmer Naqvi
27-Jan-2016
What is the definition of a ghatiya sawaal (lousy question)? Recently, Shahid Afridi walked out of a press conference after using that term to describe a reporter's query. The question was regarding Afridi's record as national T20 captain, which is the worst in Pakistani history. It clearly rankled Lala to the point that he didn't even wish to address it, but it did get me thinking about looking at captaincy records from the bottom up.
I had a look at the records of all Pakistan captains in each of the three formats. In order to keep a certain standard of achievement, I only looked at records against the top teams, and only considered captains who had a certain number of matches in charge.
The first, and perhaps most important, code is Test cricket, and it is a format where most long-term Pakistani captains have good records. I decided to disregard results against Bangladesh, who have never won against Pakistan in the longest format (though Rashid Latif's side was run perilously close) but did include matches against Zimbabwe, who have consistently troubled Pakistani teams, particularly during Zimbabwe's mid-to-late-'90s peak. I also had a choice on where to place the cut-off for minimum number of matches as captain. Several captains, such as Asif Iqbal and Javed Burki, had disastrous runs that only lasted for one tour each, but it felt unfair to view their tenures as anything more than stopgap. I decided to go with a minimum of 10 Tests, which meant that Mohammad Yousuf's poor run was among those that were spared.
Full postCan Pakistan find redemption on fixing?
A contemporary film provides parallels with what's going on with regard to Mohammad Amir's return
Ahmer Naqvi
04-Jan-2016
One of the highlights of 2015 in Pakistan was the release of a number of commercially and critically successful films, in what is still a nascent industry. One of those, Moor, the country's submission for consideration in the Academy Awards, centres around the moral choices of a father and son in the aftermath of their wife/mother's death.
According to one reviewer, the film manages to update the classical South Asian cinematic theme of "love for the country" in a modern setting. The question of what it means to love the country was frequently invoked over the past few weeks in Pakistani cricket circles after it emerged that Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali, the latter the ODI team captain, had refused to play in the same team as the soon-to-be-re-included Mohammad Amir.
The moral debate inspired by this development reminded me a lot of the one in the film, and I thought it might be helpful to view life through art. (There are major spoilers ahead, so please be warned.)
Full postA lament for Pakistan's VCR age
Remembering Pakistan Sports in Karachi, a one-time haven for cricket nostalgists
Ahmer Naqvi
17-Dec-2015
It stands in the proverbial heart of Karachi, near the mausoleum of the nation's founder and next to a market named for a queen whose empire spanned the globe. Outside its entrance is the omnipresent police van, or "mobile", manned by cops scanning the area for any teenagers emerging from the building with "objectionable materials". The building itself is what we Pakistanis call a shopping plaza, a relic of the era before air-conditioned-malls era.
Inside it, the tightly packed shops are a cacophony of chattering salesmen and garish film posters, flowing from one to the other, connected by a labyrinth of dark, narrow, paan-stained alleys. It would be easy to get lost, but I find myself being guided by muscle memory, knowing by instinct which path to take. But when I reach the spot my body insists is the right place, there is nothing to see - the shop isn't there. Panicking more than I had expected to, I frantically start asking the people around me for information. An old man in bifocal glasses confirms my rising fears - the owner has packed away his stuff and left the country. Pakistan Sports was no more.
For those of us from a certain generation, the seemingly generic title Pakistan Sports will forever be a watermark on the corner of the screen in the thousands of sports videos we watched on tape. I spent almost every summer vacation in my youth saving up my money from Eid before making the trip to the shop and blowing all the cash on tapes of cricket matches, and the odd wrestling and football video. Hours were spent going through thick registers that catalogued all the wares in the shop.
Full postAzhar needs to step up and take charge
Pakistan's batting and bowling tactics have been a bit of a mishmash; the captain needs to make sure the whole exceeds the sum of the parts
Ahmer Naqvi
26-Nov-2015
As Pakistan stumbled to their third consecutive loss to England in the ODI series last week, there was a distinct sense of unease about the future of Azhar Ali's captaincy. He leads in a format in which he has never quite settled, and presides over two ex-captains in the side (and another two who captain in the other formats) - his reign has always had a sense of borrowed time. Yet there is reason to suggest that his side is on the verge of becoming a strong, competitive team.
The series win against a transitioning Sri Lankan side marked a confident run after the debut series blanking versus Bangladesh (the shock of which was eased due to subsequent series defeats against the same opposition for India and South Africa). However, there were problems even in that series win, and those spilled over in the matches against England.
Foremost of those concerns was Azhar's batting at the top, which had been the strongest argument for his captaincy. His record as captain has seen his average improve by two runs and strike rate go up nearly 10 points, but he has thrown away his starts in his last two series: he has been dismissed under 20 only three times in his last 12 innings, yet he has only one fifty to his name in this time.
Full postPakistan's faceless duo
They don't have the flair of their team-mates, but they have plenty of mettle and their contributions speak volumes
Ahmer Naqvi
05-Nov-2015
If you saw him out of context, would you be able to explain what he's doing? Moving in loops and leaps like a 19th-century toy made of wood and springs, his actions are at once both ungainly and as mystifying as the movement of the cosmos - the points of his elbows and the angles of his wrists revolving like planets around his body.
If he looks like a cricketer, it's one from a sepia photo, taken at a time when there were more colonies than countries in the world game and tours involved steam ships and stopovers in the Pacific. He looks like a player from the era when his country had just gained independence and its players wore Brylcreem in their hair and had jazba in their hearts to win matches abroad. He might have fit well in that era, walking away from The Oval in a wide-shouldered overcoat, lighting a cigarette before ducking into a jazz bar.
But he is a misfit now.
Full postThe social regeneration of Shoaib Malik
Once confrontational and inarticulate, he turned on the charm and revamped his image - online first, and then on the field
Ahmer Naqvi
17-Oct-2015
It came at three in the morning, in all caps. "A person who don't respect his seniors will definitely don't respect his parents for sure!" It was followed by two emoji characters - a thumbs-up sign and a smirking face.
It was perhaps a first for Pakistani-cricketer Twitter. Many have taken to the platform to rail against the board, journalists and the like, but Faisal Iqbal's subtweet - aimed at Mohammad Amir - was a rare example of a cricketer (sub)tweeting against a fellow player. Earlier, Amir had allegedly abused Faisal on the pitch after the latter had provoked him. Within hours of the story breaking, Amir's coach was tweeting to journalists, revealing the saltier details of the exchange online.
Perhaps this escalation was inevitable. Twitter has increasingly become a place where Pakistani cricketers are becoming comfortable. It is particularly popular among the younger generation, which has grown up with it and other social media. Many up-and-coming players often post selfies from the National Cricketing Academy and after practice, along with other mundanities. Injured players, or those on the fringes, also increasingly use it to stay within the public consciousness. The older generation has struggled more, and the internet is awash with screenshots of Afridi telling fans they are ugly and Hafeez promising boys their girlfriends would leave them if they let them talk to him.
Full postWhy the PSL is important for Pakistan
In a country where T20 cricket is a natural fit, a world-class tournament in the format has been long overdue
Ahmer Naqvi
24-Sep-2015
One of the biggest problems with media coverage of cricket in Pakistan is that it is almost entirely fuelled by supposed controversies. To follow the news this last Monday was to be greeted by a cavalcade of dismay - from snubbed cricketers to ignored ones - all as part of the reaction to the launch of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
In a transitional society like Pakistan's, the response to change is often met by outcry over the loss of tradition, and the outrage over the PSL's launch - both among journalists and players - was the response of those who expected to be greeted by the same old same old.
The fact is that T20 is the sport's newest format, and the organisation of glamorous and lucrative domestic T20 leagues isn't just a fad but a rapidly growing opportunity for those running the sport. A part of me definitely understands the balking at the celebrity-fuelled PSL launch - and the event was far from being perfect - but judging by the reactions, few people seemed to understand why exactly this event was the way it was.
Full postThe Asif enigma
Unlike other Pakistani cricketers who have strayed, he has not been at pains to show penitence
Ahmer Naqvi
25-Aug-2015
There was a time when every time I watched a Woody Allen film, it seemed to be specifically addressing precisely the very issues that I was grappling with in my own life. Therefore, it was quite shocking when I later learnt that he had been accused of various sexual crimes, including against his own adopted children.
Given that he did not face much ostracism despite these claims, a part of me wondered whether by liking his films I was contributing to the privilege that insulated him from scrutiny. One bit of advice I received was to "separate the art from the artist". It was important to hold the human being accountable for their sins, but that didn't mean that one had to judge what they created similarly. After all, the impact of a work of art is related to the meaning the viewer generates from it.
I was given that advice with the warning that it didn't absolve one of making one's own decision, and only served as a guide. I saw the wisdom in that when I started trying to deal with the wave of emotions associated with the end of Mohammad Asif's international ban last week.
Full postWhat Sanga means to me
Apart from his record, it is his intellect and nuanced view of the world around him that many of us geeks can relate to
Ahmer Naqvi
18-Aug-2015
I thought writing an article celebrating Kumar Sangakkara would come easily to me. I have long been a fan, and have spent countless hours arguing with detractors. Yet when it actually came to the writing, I realised that I kept writing about myself.
There is a concept in literature of the author surrogate - a character based on the author, an amateurish indulgence that prioritises the author's own fantasies over the duty to write well. Once, during an argument with a famous Sanga-skeptic, I realised that much of what I saw in the player was a projection of my own fantasies - he had become my author surrogate. So if you will excuse the indulgence, I need to explain myself in order to explain what Sangakkara means to me.
I have always identified as what is referred to as a "geek" in the parlance of my times: always watching and obsessing over cricket, though I could never play it well. But every night, the humiliations of my athletic inabilities would be exorcised in the fantasies I would construct before nodding off to sleep. In these scenarios, not only was I the handsome and prolific allrounder-captain, but also incredibly witty and politically aware. In these quasi-dreams I didn't just play well, but played well with context. My exploits were always set in important matches and difficult conditions.
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