R O N I Nammar yasir’s personal blog

Once upon a time there was a sport that we Pakistani use to be very proud of; we had the league of extra ordinary sportsmen that had the ability to beat any team on any ground. We use to call it cricket I guess… I remember I was such a big fan of Imran Khan when I was a kid that whoever use to ask my name I used to reply that my name is Imran Khan and that what was my nick name back than.

But things have drastically changed since than. Yes we still have the fastest bowler and fastest century maker still in our league but the spirit has gone like it was never there. My father once told me about an Australian business man and cricket lover Kerry Pecker; who arranged a cricket series in the 70’s. He hand picked some veteran and dynamic cricketers like Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Graham Gooch(England), Sunil Gavasker etc from every test cricketing nation, paid them handsomely and made them play in his series.

The same kind of a series is making big headings these days; they are calling it the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The cricketing gurus predict it as a big blow for the ICC as the cricketers are twice thinking before signing their central contract. Reason; money talking and damn they are paying millions. National hero Inzimam and Muhammed Yousuf signed a 10 curore deal with ICL. Razzak and Imran Farhat are the latest to join the bandwagon. Ex skipper and wicket keeper Moin Khan is the middle man in Pakistan and making the deals possible.

Now this is a big blow for the national cricket. Who’s responsible? PCB I say. One may ask why? Well in a non democratic country every organization is headed by the friends and family members of the dictator. The story of Pakistan is no different. The president of PCB has always been the guy in uniform or the family member of any minister. The board members have always been some talent less bastards who have hardly played any cricket but are related to the ministry some how. As a result we see the cricketing decline in these years.

Some predict ICL would be better for the cricket. I can’t see how but it’s definitely very beneficiary for the cricketers. Especially those cricketers who are quite near to retirement.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Maulay noo maula na maraay te maula na-ii mardaa

Translation: No one can kill maula but maula himself.

There aren’t many dialogues from the Pakistani film industry that are as popular as the dialogues from Bollywood or Hollywood motion pictures. But the old Punjabi feature film ‘ Maula Jutt’ had all the elements that makes a Pakistani commercial film a big success. It had dances in the rain, ugly looking villains and a much uglier male protagonist, a fat cow for a heroin/ female lead actress and more rain dances. But the thing which made Muala Jutt a big big success was its dialogues. Even a non Punjabi speaking guy like me enjoyed every bit of it.

I remember the time when I was watching the movie, it made me both weep and laugh but on scenes where I was not suppose to laugh or cry respectively. The fat guy sitting besides me asked in Punjabi ‘ tussi film wheknay aaaye ho, kee kernay aye ho ?’ translation ; ‘Are you here to watch the movie or what?’ my humble reply was ‘ mai kee kernay aya hoo !! ‘im here todo the kee’

Anyway the reason that I’m sharing all of this is not because I ve dropped the idea of becoming a telecom engineer but to become a film critic. Although the other job suits me well but I am telling you all of this because the above mentioned dialogue can so be related to the current sports scenario. The other day a friend of mine asked me the most popular question of the season.

Who killed uncle Bob?…………………. No

Is Ali Zafar really Gay? …………………yes, he is but that’s not the question.

When Ash and Abhishek are getting married?……………….who gives a shit !! And again wrong question.

Amir or Sharukh the better actor? ……………..am I on Coffee with Karan with no jauhar.

Okay the question is WHO WILLWIN THE WC-2007?? I repeat WHO WILLWIN THE WC-2007??

My answer:

Maulay noo maula na maraay te maula na-ii mardaa

Yes, No one can beat Australia but Australia itself. Yeah yeh cricket is by chance and shit. The team that will better perform on the respective day will take the trophy home. But the fact will remain that there is no better team than Australia in the cricketing world today and you need to get another Australian team that can challenge the first team.

Popularity: 14% [?]