Why isn't India prepared?

If India has one thing to learn from the Commonwealth Games debacle in New Delhi last year, it is to improve organisational skills before hosting a mega event.

And if you think India has learned a thing or two before hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to avoid a similar embarrassment, you should think again. Since the start of the tournament, controversy has followed the Indian administrators running the World Cup.

Indian cricket is a gold mine which is as deep as the Earth’s core. Immense fan interest, competitive advertisements and media attention has given it more money than anyone could have imagined. However, if the people in charge are not diligent enough to do their job, it makes the whole event go from magnificent to mediocre in quick time.

As a diehard cricket fan, I was looking forward to the World Cup in India simply because of the hype and buzz created by Indian fans and media. In 2007, I was lucky enough to see a Pakistan vs India match in Mohali so I know how passionate the fans are and how different the atmosphere is from anywhere else in the world. But after a flurry of news reports, I am doubtful about India meeting the expectations.

Unprepared stadiums

India’s most historic and prolific cricket ground Eden Gardens in Kolkata is still under construction and was declared off limits by ICC’s inspection team. This was the first big blow.

Eden Gardens can hold a capacity crowd of up to 90,000 spectators. It is a sight to behold and an experience to remember for all those who are attending any high profile match.

While the ICC is positive now that Eden Gardens will be ready by March, it has lost the important game it was meant to host between India and England. The Kolkata fans have been deprived by their own administrators who failed to meet deadlines.

The Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai which was scheduled to host the World Cup final has failed the fire safety test. According to the fire chief, there are “numerous loopholes in the newly renovated stadium”.

There is still uncertainty surrounding what will be the outcome of this issue. Another question that needs to be asked is the choice of Mumbai hosting the final. Despite the extended renovations, the stadium is still one of India’s two smallest cricket grounds with a capacity of only 33,000.

This is ridiculously small for a cricket World Cup final by South Asian standards! A country that boasts much bigger and more glorious stadiums, the Wankhede is a mere minnow among giants.

Tickets are for VIPs

If the average fan felt aggrieved about the limited tickets available for general public, their grief was not alleviated when they went online to the official partner’s (KyaZoonga.com) website to purchase tickets.

Only 4,000 seats are being sold to the general public. The remainder is going to the ICC and Mumbai Cricket Association Member’s Club.

Ten minutes after the tickets went up for sale, the website crashed as up to 10 million people were logged on to compete for the 1,000 tickets available online.

I presume the KyaZoonga did not understand the passion for cricket in India and underestimated the hits they would receive. Millions of fans were left frustrated and angry at the handling of tickets for the final.

Cricket fans get beaten

In Bangalore, fans lined up to get their hands on available tickets for the India versus England contest which was originally scheduled to be played in Kolkata.

The stadium in Bangalore can hold 38,000 fans, but only 7,000 tickets were available for the general public, leaving a big question mark over what happened to majority of the tickets.

While former cricketer and board chief Anil Kumble was nowhere to be found, majority of the fans who turned up and waited in line for hours were unable to get their hands on any tickets, while many of them returned home with painful bruises thanks to the police baton charge .

As videos of police brutality become viral on news channels, this questions is rightfully being asked: is this World Cup for VIPs only?

The fiasco in Bangalore finally prompted the ICC to send a letter to BCCI via its legal aide David Becker, expressing concerns over sales and distribution of World Cup tickets. As the ICC faces compensation threats from event sponsors, BCCI (naturally) rejects all blame.

Keeping in view that BCCI is blessed with enough resources to make the impossible happen, the fans should not be compelled to expect anything less.

However, one thing is certain; being filthy rich can’t save you if the people in charge are incompetent. If majority of the tickets for most important games have indeed gone to the VIPs, it is a worrying sign because I don’t think the smug elite of Mumbai or Bangalore will match the passion, intensity and loud cheering of the general public.

After all, it’s the general public that makes most of the noise at cricket matches in the subcontinent.

Let’s hope these matters are resolved and we don’t have to see anymore incidents of mishandling cricket fans. Aside from these organisational problems dogging India since the Commonwealth Games, I think they can still deliver the best World Cup.

This article was originally published on Express Tribune Blogs

Au Revoir Basant

Basant is a festival that brings people together like no other, I have vivid memories of seeing just about everyone caught up in the spirit of the season and the festivities of basant. Maybe it's because all you really need is a long enough string and a kite. And if you still couldn't afford that, you could snatch one that's drifting away aimlessly in the sky. There is a feeling of joy in seeing the sky strewn with different colours of kites. There is a pleasure in the challenge of cutting someone else's string with yours. Everyone, rich and poor are equal and play in the same free skies, there is no discrimination. Reality on ground though, is somewhat tainted by problems preventing this beautiful festival from taking place . Just recently I was part of a fierce tweet debate that encouraged me write this entry. There is an outrage amongst the people who believe basant should not be banned. The festival which once attracted tourists from far and wide to come to Lahore and see the colorful festivities is now a thing of the past. The pro-basant activists believe the onus is on the government to provide safety and security for the citizens and to ban this historical festival is a form of cultural depravity. One tweeter blames it on the ghost of Zia regime that has nailed the only true festival of the soil. Erm, yes - well, some of these people just needed to attend a Surgical ER of any hospital in Lahore on the last Basant day to understand the real reasons for this festivals demise. The reality is that far too many lives have been lost to this festival. While I personally enjoyed every basant festival, I can not advocate its continuation. And here's why:

Far too many potentially avoidable unnatural deaths

How can anyone possibly control the immense toll of unnatural death around Basant time. Can we really allow this festival to continue if we can not regulate the demanding safety requirements?

There is a cry for banning fishnets and metallic/glass laced strings which are the prime culprit. But to be fair, they did try to regulate this before, and failed. In Lahore, where the crime rate is on a steep incline, it's unreasonable to pin our hopes on the impotent police to put in the hard yards of effort required to stop this illegal trade of banned strings. Fishnets and metallic wires are not the only problem.

There are thousands of houses in inner-city Lahore that do not have guard railings on their rooftops. And everyone knows, that on basant everyone is going to be up there. As a child, I felt left out because mom never allowed us on the rooftop. Luckily there was never a huge turnout of kites in the my neighbourhood in Cantt, so I was never tempted to break moms rules. But after seeing the real basant in inner-city Lahore as I got older, I can totally understand the feelings of a kid who lives in, say, Iqbal Town or Ichra; seeing the sky littered with kites, while struggling to get your kite to take off from the backyard with all the obstacles in the way, manoeuvring it to avoid the houses and trees, taping and retaping the kite as it rips after every failed attempt.

There's just never enough wind on the ground level! The temptation to climb the roof is far too powerful. What can you do when the open skies, the breezy February wind and the neighbourhood boys call you out? I guess that's why hundreds of children and adults fall off rooftops every basant. Many break limbs, others are left paralyzed or dead. What can the government do to sort that problem out?

Another issue is of banning people riding bicycles and motorcycles on Bassant Day. Now, what kind of a sick law is that? It makes my blood boil to see this law enforced because it only applies to the people of low socio-economic class. It's like saying, "If you don't own a car - too bad, you can't go out grocery shopping on Basant". That's not a solution, infact that's just drawing a line between the rich and poor. The only way this could work is if cars were banned too! Forcing the entire city to use public transport or rickshaws would be ideal - making it the first eco-friendly Bassant. But then again, how will all the folks who blame Zia for all our misfortunes get to their lavish basant parties?

Another issue is of strings getting tangled up in electricity polls and resulting in interruptions in service. Somehow, I doubt anyone except the great folks at WAPDA have any issues with that.

And last, there is a problem of people accidentally getting shot by gunfire, I recall stories of people firing rounds up in the air and the bullets eventually returning back from the sky with a speed of 9.8 m/s2 and piercing right through an innocent bystanders skull. Basant just isn't the same in Lahore without the celebratory gunshots now, is it? Which begs the question, did Lahori's take a festival which in its primordial stages and for decades was relatively safe and forced it into a banned entity. We really have no one to blame except for ourselves for this ban. It is the collective failure of the entire city to crack down on the basant Grinches and force authorities to take action against them. Perhaps it's a fitting punishment for losing the real essence of a festival that once used to bring people together in celebration.

All these are serious issues that need to be firmly addressed before we can even begin contemplating the return of basant back to the city of Lahore.

A trimmed version of this blogpost was originally posted on Express Tribune Blogs

Ahmed Shehzad: rising in the ranks

Ahead of the cricket World Cup this month, the timely arrival of Ahmad Shehzad into the Pakistan cricket team has made me very hopeful . The teenager’s century inspired Pakistan to a 41-run win over New Zealand and wrapped up the six-match series with a game to spare.

The Lahore-born opener who attended Cathedral High School began his cricketing journey at the age of seven and has never looked back, representing Pakistan at the under-13, under-16 and under-19 level.

He is a true example of someone who has risen in the ranks based solely on merit, and is fast becoming the solution to one half of the elusive openers problem that has haunted Pakistan since Saeed Anwar and Amir Sohail.

I have been following Shehzad’s progress since he was a 16-year-old playing for Pakistan’s under-19. I remember telling my friends to watch out for a bright new talent who will cement his place as the future opener of the Pakistan cricket team. Shehzad’s prolific career needs to be mentioned and since I have been lobbying for him for the past three years, it is only fair that I give an insight into his cricketing career.

Too good to be true?

Shehzad first caught attention when Pakistan under-19 was playing a two match Youth Test series in England in 2007. After losing the first match emphatically by an innings and 58 runs, Pakistan was staring down the gun barrel again in the second test. Pakistan needed 342 runs in the second innings to win the test and save the series. Shahzad came out, guns blazing, and scored a sparkling 167 to lead Pakistan to a thrilling win in Derby. The second highest scorer for Pakistan in that innings was a meagre 42, which left me wondering: is this a one-time fluke as it often is for Pakistani players, or is he for real?

Following the tour to England, Pakistan under-19 hosted Australia under-19 for a five match one day series. Shahzad was again at his belligerent best, scoring 115 from 110 in the third one day, followed by a 99 (not out) in the final one day as Pakistan won the series comprehensively 5-0.

In November 2007, Pakistan under-19 hosted Bangladesh U-19, where Shehzad again scored 104 in the first innings of the only youth test played and Pakistan drew that test.

In January 2008, Pakistan under-19 toured Sri Lanka for a tri-nation tournament in preparation for the upcoming under-19 World Cup. Shehzad scored a scintillating 90 (not out) followed by a 70 and 20. It was on this very tour when Umar Akmal broke through and overshadowed everyone else by scoring heavily in all the matches. Pakistan won all the matches in that series.

The 2008 under-19 World Cup expected much from Shehzad, but he failed to impress as Pakistan lost out to South Africa in the semi-final. Shahzad managed only 136 runs in five matches in the tournament. His only knock worth mentioning was in the losing, because in the semi-final where he scored 60 runs in overcast conditions favouring swing bowling, Pakistan was bundled out for 158.

Partying in Nairobi

In September of 2008, Shehzad travelled with the Pakistan Cricket Academy to tour Kenya and Zimbabwe, where he did not perform well and found himself in trouble. He was fined $400 and suspended for two matches for breaking curfew and scoping out the night life in Nairobi with fellow team mate Anwar Ali. He later confessed in a TV interview that 2008 was the worst year of his short cricketing career. It was back to the drawing boards for Shehzad, who went back to playing club cricket and worked on his shortcomings.

Temper problems

In 2009, Shehzad was picked to play for Patrons XI in a warm up match against Sri Lanka, where he scored an impressive 146 runs. He was selected for the home test series against Sri Lanka but did not get a chance to play. Shortly after, he participated in Pakistan’s successful campaign in the T20 World Cup in England. However, he could not find a place as a regular member on the squad. He was selected in Pakistan’s home-away-from-home series in UAE hosting Australia, where he showed glimpses of his prowess as an opener, scoring runs briskly but had no big totals to show. As is often the problem with our batsmen, his temperament needed fine tuning.

Selectors wouldn’t ignore this wonder

In 2010, Shehzad announced himself to the domestic season in stunning fashion. He left no questions about his abilities as a batsman who understands the game, and knows what he has to do to succeed. In six first class matches, Shehzad scored 719 runs at an average of 103.71 which included a knock of 254. He made it impossible for the selectors to ignore him for the upcoming World Cup. Now that is special.

A shining star

Over his brief career, Shehzad has shown a splendid ability to skillfully pile on the runs. He has batted as an opener throughout his career and has never pushed himself down the order to avoid seeing the new ball. New Zealand’s former cricketer Simon Doull remembers Shehzad best for the confidence he possesses and his ability to back himself.

Aside from his promising performances, he has displayed the capacity to learn and make changes to his game in order to prosper as an opening batsman. He is a shining star in Pakistan’s armour of surprises that await the world in the upcoming 2011 World Cup. Alongside, Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq – they represent the X-factor in Pakistan’s batting lineup. For them, the stage is set to light ablaze the flat subcontinent pitches with their bats. I am very excited at the prospect of seeing our young guns perform this month.

God bless the cornered tigers!

This blog was originally posted on Express Tribune Blogs