Michael Atherton, the much-read former England skipper, now a respected cricket columnist, observes, “A fascinating and beautifully written retelling of a story that continues to surprise, delight and confound.” He is heaping praise on Osman Samiuddin’s tribute to cricket in Pakistan. Titled “The Unquiet Ones: A History of Pakistan Cricket”, it is a riveting story woven with splendid research and diligence that adorns every chapter.
“Doing the research itself was not the toughest bit. I ended up interviewing first-hand over a 100 people. And people will be surprised but the early years of the game are pretty well-documented in Pakistan. It is just a question of finding it, like (Abdul Hafeez) Kardar’s tour diaries, his old columns, old magazines. Putting all that research into readable form and structuring it was easily the most difficult bit. It took me four years to get the structure right,” says Samiuddin.
Replete with anecdotes that reflect the character of Pakistan cricket, unpredictable and brimming with intrigue, the book follows the “Wounded Tiger”, an epic on the history of Pakistan cricket by Peter Oborne. There are some memorable incidents that have been skilfully described by Samiuddin, but the best is the dismissal of G. R. Viswanath during the 1982-83 series when India was decimated by Pakistan’s reverse swing.
Samiuddin writes, “Viswanath was an outstanding player of pace, particularly the brutal and relentless short-pitched bowling of the West Indians. But Imran was coming at him with a different weapon, as precise and quick as that from the Caribbean, but more artful. To a ball that began its flight well outside the off-stump, perhaps at a sixth stump, Viswanath happily shouldered arms, thinking no doubt that as much as it may swing in, it will still fly past the stumps. But the ball dipped so suddenly, as if it had hit an air pocket, and cut a curve in its path so sharp and, importantly, so late that it still went past his pads and struck the off stump.”
This Viswanath dismissal had come in the second Test at Karachi and is still vivid, the bewildered expression of the batsman, and the deathly silence in drawing rooms across India since the match was beamed ‘live’. Having been part of that dejected audience, I can vouch for the impact that dismissal made on Indian cricket. Of course, it triggered the great Viswanath’s retirement. That was a bigger blow Imran dealt to Indian cricket than the 3-0 humiliation in the six-match series.
Imran’s charisma continues. As Samiuddin notes, “I don’t think his status is undiminished. In fact, I think since the high of their election breakthrough in 2013, Imran and PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) may have even lost some of the goodwill that their emergence as a viable third choice had earned. And his marriage may be in danger of being seen as very poorly timed, given the tragedy of Peshawar so recently — Peshawar being the capital of the province where his party is in power.”
But Imran’s contribution to Pakistan remains unmatched and Samiuddin documents it glowingly in various sections of the book. As Samiuddin believes, “I think the key phase was in Imran Khan’s development both as a fast bowler and as this extremely starry personality who hung out with rockstars and models in the West — that made not only him, but by extension, fast bowling, a very desirable occupation in Pakistan. Then his tutoring of Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) and their success really just kicked off this whole assembly line. It helps that Pakistan has a completely informal but very workable network of scouts and ex-cricketers who come upon young talent in vast portions of the country where official cricket — like the board — does not reach out to. And once talent is spotted, for all its faults, the system in Pakistan eventually allows it to rise to a level near the top.”
It also helped that Samiuddin received unstinted co-operation from the players. “All the players were really good. That is one of the things about covering Pakistan cricket — access to players present and past is unparalleled. The modern vogue of media-controlled access has not, thankfully, really hit Pakistan yet, so they are willing to talk and available to do so.”
There is hardly any international cricket being played in Pakistan now. Not even junior teams are willing to travel. Obviously it has hit Pakistan cricket and Samiuddin deals with this aspect too. He feels, “It is hurting Pakistan of course and right now, the only impact that can be really measured is the financial one, of playing your home matches outside Pakistan in a country where the marketing infrastructure around the game possibly doesn’t bring the same returns that it might elsewhere. But it has not affected them financially as bad as was originally feared. And if India do go ahead with the series they have signed on for with Pakistan in the new calendar, then Pakistan may actually be okay in the long run financially. The non-economic toll, on players, on fans, on future players, on stadia, on administrators — that is something we don’t know about yet and will only be able to gauge properly many years down the line.”
The book belongs to Pakistan cricket. And Samiuddin picks his moment from the tome. “There are many, such as meeting men like Abdul Dyer and A. R. Wadiwalla, who in their own ways, did so much for the game. But I think the one real highlight was meeting Nur Khan, the former board head and a real legend in Pakistan — he passed away a few years ago and I think I may have been one of the last people to interview him. Very difficult to get him to say yes, but meeting him was well worth the effort.”
“The Unquiet Ones”, published by Harper Sport, is worth the effort indeed for Osman Samiuddin. He brings alive the character of a team that can win from a losing position. And also lose from a winning position. The most unpredictable and intriguing cricket team on this planet.
