Who cares if we win or lose the World Cup?


It may be sacrilegious but it is true!

The first time I went to see a cricket match was when I was 11 years old. I had always been a fan and followed the sport religiously. My father and I managed to reach the stands, through a belligerent crowd that was trying to get in without tickets. I could hardly contain my excitement.

The match was between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Karachi’s National Stadium. But as the fans roared I realised something: I did not understand what was going on.

Who was batting? Who was bowling? Why did that guy get out? Nothing was making sense. Then I realised that I was not the only one.

Nobody knew what was going on but everybody continued to chant slogans like, “Jeetay ga bhai jeetay ga! Pakistan jeetay ga!”

We lost the match but it was great fun.

On the way out of the stadium I saw an angry mob of fans burning chairs and breaking windows. I was terrified and wanted to get home. I couldn’t understand: what was the big deal?

Cricket: I just don’t get it

Today, I am still overwhelmed by the fan following and crazed loyalty our team inspires. I do hope Pakistan does well in the World Cup – not only because our country is fanatical about the sport but for the entirely real possibility that if we don’t, we will mourn until the next one. Cricket is considered to be the core of our patriotism. This hit me when the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that the budget for the World Cup was Rs2.6 billion. However, I’m afraid I am not so “patriotic” when it comes to cricket.

Who cares if we win or lose the World Cup? Will it change anything at all? Will it solve our problems? No, it will not.

If anything it will only deliver temporary fulfillment and that too only if we win. Chances are we probably won’t even make it to the final four. I may be offending many hardcore cricket fans. They may think that I am some sort of outcast who knows nothing about cricket or people’s love for it.

True, I may not know a lot about cricket but I know this: we have bigger problems to worry about right now. We face the mounting dilemma of terrorism, heavy loans from the International Monetary Fund and corruption.

Our literacy rate is shamefully low. We rest comfortably at the top of a list of the most underdeveloped countries of the world including Somalia and Afghanistan.

Why can’t we use our jazba and junoon to cure these ailments that really inflict our society? Why be part of a nationwide mass hysteria that will bear no fruit in the end?

My patriotism says otherwise.

I shall harness my energies not to support the World Cup but at least try to make an active effort to reassess my priorities. If we do not take charge now, we might perish and there might not be a next World Cup.

I am not going to try and hammer these ideas in anybody’s head – this is for us as citizens of Pakistan to realise. I know I will receive immense criticism at the hands of some very loyal cricket fans but it is about time somebody came out and spoke their mind.

After all, cricket is just a game.