If you want to unlock the
secrets to understanding Pakistan’s future, you can begin your journey by
studying the performance and team dynamics of the Pakistani cricket team. It’s
no coincidence that the catchphrase “unpredictable” describes the Pakistani
cricket team and a nation of 180 million people equally well.
Pakistanis view their cricketers, and the world, through the prism of an
artificial binary of “boom booms” and “tuk tuks”. The “boom booms” capture our
imagination on and off the cricket field. The thrill of quick fixes, with larger
than life narratives can drive us into a frenzy of excitement (think “tsunamis”
that can deliver a Naya Pakistan, cars that can run on water and tales of
underprivileged children rising from Karachi’s slums to end up in Harvard). In
sharp contradistinction to our fascination with “boom booms”, the “tuk tuks” can
barely hold our attention, even if we do recognise their value in our lives
(think “investing” in education, democratic institution-building and building
energy infrastructure). Carrying this analogy to its logical conclusion, we
appear to be a nation full of adrenaline junkies in search of a quick fix to
escape from our dismal reality.
It should come as no surprise that our national climax is reached when Pakistan
is facing off India in a cricket match. We never define our expectations versus
what we want to achieve for ourselves. Instead, we define our expectations
versus whether or not we’re better than India. Losing our internal development
focus behind a brutal obsession with “beating” India is the story of Pakistan’s
life. The dramatic irony of all this is that cricket is probably the only
platform in which Pakistan can actually “beat” India today.
Interestingly, we’re more intellectually honest about the analysis of our
cricket team’s performance compared with our performance as a nation of 180
million people. Stripped of the comforting embrace of conspiracy theories, we
should study our feelings towards the Pakistani cricket team for clues to our
real feelings towards the country. The truth is that we worship the Pakistani
cricket team’s “unpredictability” as a virtue because it enables us to claim
that “we can beat any team in the world” on our day. In a revealing review of
the Pakistani cricket team, one fan, Hadeel Obaid, described the experience of
supporting our team in the following words: “There’s something daring about
being a fan of this team. There is no logic to be applied, no predictability.
You live for each day, placing blind faith in a team that breaks your heart and
then makes you love again, keeping you hungry for more each time.” This
insightful analysis, breaking down the irrationality of being a Pakistani
cricket fan, helps explain the whimsical nature of patriotism experienced by
most of us on August 14 every year, despite the daily disappointments that
constitute life in the country. There is no “logic” that can explain our love
for the country. Instead, we place “blind faith in a country that breaks our
heart and then makes us love again”.
Incidentally, when our most successful cricket captain decided to take a shot at
leading the nation, Pakistan’s youth was inspired to break voting records on May
11. After all, we’re a nation that believes our fate is captive to the talent
and ingenuity of our captain. Notice the difference in audience reaction between
Pakistan winning a cricket match and losing one. Whenever Pakistan wins a match,
180 million people rush to take credit. On the other hand, when Pakistan loses a
match, it’s usually the captain’s fault. In the final analysis, Pakistan is a
nation brimming with talented individuals, much like its cricket team. But
instead of taking ownership of our poor collective performance, we find reasons
to blame others, including our captain. More often than not, a skipper doesn’t
create a successful side. Instead, a successful skipper delivers superior
results by making a strong team play to their strengths. In fact, there’s a
reason why Pakistan has produced talented bowlers and batsmen but never really
nurtured great talent in fielding. That’s because batting and bowling enable
cricketers to make a name for themselves in the team. Fielding merely helps the
team win more consistently