After over a week of unnecessary drama, as the Indian government refused to address Pakistan’s concerns about security for the T20 World Championships, we finally received a letter from the Indian home ministry and the Bengal government giving us assurances of the safety of our players. Had Pakistan refused to participate in the tournament, it would have been a significant blow to international cricket with politics once again coming in the way of good sense. The Modi government waited till the last possible minute to address our reservations, and it clearly did so grudgingly. This brinkmanship does not augur well both for our future cricketing ties with India and, more generally, for the prospect of peace between the two countries. Already, the venue of our marquee clash with India was changed from Dharamshala to Kolkata, when the BJP state government refused to provide the Pakistan team with the requisite security. At a press conference before departing for India, coach Waqar Younis called the security issue a ‘distraction’; he is playing down just how much it has affected our preparation for the tournament. The Pakistan team has left for India three days after it was supposed to. With the players themselves not knowing if they would be participating in the tournament, it is quite likely they are not as ready for the challenges of the competition as we would want them to be.
Now that the focus is finally on the cricket, we will have to acknowledge that Pakistan, even if it had the best of preparations, is unlikely to get far in the tournament. Our group is stacked with three vastly superior T20 teams in the form of India, Australia and New Zealand. With only two teams from each group qualifying for the semi final, the Pakistan side will have to beat at least two of these teams. Should it do so, it would be – to put it mildly – a big surprise. The tournament is also going to be the swansong for the mercurial and yet hugely popular Shahid Afridi. He is expected to announce his retirement at the end of the tournament – although he has retired multiple times in the past and taken those decisions back. Our batting line-up is as brittle as ever and in the bowling department the only real threat is Mohammed Amir. The best we can hope for is that we do not humiliate ourselves. The fight over security has obscured the fact that our true sense of insecurity in India should be over the quality of our team.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/104843-World-T20-tour
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