Line & Length
R Mohan
Shoaib's career sees Bollywood resurrection
May 08, 2008
The Rawalpindi Express never comes to a halt. The maverick fast bowler who is often referred to by the name of the train that speeds to and from his home town has had this extraordinary ability to change the lights from red to green at every turn. His latest escapade had all the ingredients of a Bollywood thriller with an Indian actor backing him while he fought the Pakistan establishment.
Shoaib has to thank the international nature of the Indian Premier League and its embracing culture for the latest break he is getting. It may sound strange that while he cannot play cricket in his home country he is eligible to chug in for the Kolkata Knight Riders. If he does indeed play, his four overs for the Kolkatans on Thursday night will establish the extraordinary sweep of player power.
It may sound strange that while the Pakistan Cricket Board wishes to wash its hands off its temperamental fast bowler with an avowed behaviour problem against authority it still wishes he should be allowed to earn his living by plying his trade somewhere else.
The law has been bent an awful lot to allow this to happen.
The power of charisma has brought about all the curious goings-on in which even the government of Pakistan came forward to help Shoaib Akhtar to patch up things in such a way he could carry on playing while the PCB grappled with disciplinary issues. To initiate a libel suit claiming fancy damages while recommending him to the IPL is a balancing act that the PCB chief somehow managed.
The fact that he sought out the king of Bollywood during the series in India late last year to renew an old acquaintance may have been the key to his strong bonding with the actor who subsequently became an IPL team baron.
His trips to Mumbai after the series were held against Akhtar when the PCB acted on a so-called disciplinary matter.
Not even Bollywood scriptwriters could have come up with such an original scenario in which films and cricket come together.
All that remains now is for him to take a few wickets and sweep away the man of the match award while winning a game for Knight Riders. That would truly complete the ultimate filmy fantasy.
Compare this to what is happening to ICL protagonists and the treatment meted out to Kapil Dev in the silver jubilee year of his greatest achievement in leading the country to its finest triumph ever in history and the story of life imitating cinema becomes uncannily real. Denied even his pension for services rendered over a long career, Kapil cuts a forlorn figure just as celebrations are planned to commemorate India's World Cup win in the UK on June 25.
If the IPL truly believes in its embracing culture by which it aims to become the global league of the game while investing cricketers with millions in real currency and team franchises with billions in market valuation, it should also bring about a rapprochement with those who helped form the league that actually set the trend in the emerging world of T-20 cricket.
The ECB has been able to sit with the Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford and make him into an angel investor in the game's future. Why then should India alone be busy fighting each other over the status of a cricket league that after all did provide a platform for cricketers, albeit the ageing and the retired or retiring ones, to earn in keeping with their entertainment value?
The ECB has also been forced to accept many of the ICL 'rebels' in its domestic circuit with the UK courts ruling that any ban would not only be invidious but also illegal. The test case of Justin Kemp, Andrew Hall and Johan van der Wath has established the first principles of sports administration in which there should hardly be any place for bans unless, of course, a cricketer goes around slapping his colleagues.
If the ongoing Akhtar episode knocks sense into Indian cricket to the extent of its honchos sitting down with the ICL admin men to come up with a workable solution, then the typical fairytale ending of filmdom might even become possible. That would leave India as the undisputed capital of the cricket world, which even Stanford's match-ups with millions of dollars as prize money cannot counter. Just imagine what a recalcitrant fast bowler would have helped the game achieve if his presence in the IPL becomes the catalyst for a change of heart across national and international barriers.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
Shoaib has to thank the international nature of the Indian Premier League and its embracing culture for the latest break he is getting. It may sound strange that while he cannot play cricket in his home country he is eligible to chug in for the Kolkata Knight Riders. If he does indeed play, his four overs for the Kolkatans on Thursday night will establish the extraordinary sweep of player power.
It may sound strange that while the Pakistan Cricket Board wishes to wash its hands off its temperamental fast bowler with an avowed behaviour problem against authority it still wishes he should be allowed to earn his living by plying his trade somewhere else.
The law has been bent an awful lot to allow this to happen.
The power of charisma has brought about all the curious goings-on in which even the government of Pakistan came forward to help Shoaib Akhtar to patch up things in such a way he could carry on playing while the PCB grappled with disciplinary issues. To initiate a libel suit claiming fancy damages while recommending him to the IPL is a balancing act that the PCB chief somehow managed.
The fact that he sought out the king of Bollywood during the series in India late last year to renew an old acquaintance may have been the key to his strong bonding with the actor who subsequently became an IPL team baron.
His trips to Mumbai after the series were held against Akhtar when the PCB acted on a so-called disciplinary matter.
Not even Bollywood scriptwriters could have come up with such an original scenario in which films and cricket come together.
All that remains now is for him to take a few wickets and sweep away the man of the match award while winning a game for Knight Riders. That would truly complete the ultimate filmy fantasy.
Compare this to what is happening to ICL protagonists and the treatment meted out to Kapil Dev in the silver jubilee year of his greatest achievement in leading the country to its finest triumph ever in history and the story of life imitating cinema becomes uncannily real. Denied even his pension for services rendered over a long career, Kapil cuts a forlorn figure just as celebrations are planned to commemorate India's World Cup win in the UK on June 25.
If the IPL truly believes in its embracing culture by which it aims to become the global league of the game while investing cricketers with millions in real currency and team franchises with billions in market valuation, it should also bring about a rapprochement with those who helped form the league that actually set the trend in the emerging world of T-20 cricket.
The ECB has been able to sit with the Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford and make him into an angel investor in the game's future. Why then should India alone be busy fighting each other over the status of a cricket league that after all did provide a platform for cricketers, albeit the ageing and the retired or retiring ones, to earn in keeping with their entertainment value?
The ECB has also been forced to accept many of the ICL 'rebels' in its domestic circuit with the UK courts ruling that any ban would not only be invidious but also illegal. The test case of Justin Kemp, Andrew Hall and Johan van der Wath has established the first principles of sports administration in which there should hardly be any place for bans unless, of course, a cricketer goes around slapping his colleagues.
If the ongoing Akhtar episode knocks sense into Indian cricket to the extent of its honchos sitting down with the ICL admin men to come up with a workable solution, then the typical fairytale ending of filmdom might even become possible. That would leave India as the undisputed capital of the cricket world, which even Stanford's match-ups with millions of dollars as prize money cannot counter. Just imagine what a recalcitrant fast bowler would have helped the game achieve if his presence in the IPL becomes the catalyst for a change of heart across national and international barriers.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
