{"id":40676,"date":"2026-02-17T12:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40676"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:04:30","slug":"there-were-tears-in-his-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40676","title":{"rendered":"There were tears in his eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"
There were tears in his eyes \u2014 this is no exaggeration, there really were tears. At the R. Premadasa Stadium after the match, when I moved forward to console the boy in the green shirt, his friends or cousins \u2014 whoever they were \u2014 reached him before I could.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, are you crying? Haha, when will you grow up? We lost, so what? Stop crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

He glared at them angrily and said, \u201cI\u2019m not crying; something just got in my eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he said, \u201cCome on, let\u2019s go to the hotel,\u201d and they walked off.<\/p>\n

But I knew \u2014 that night, many Pakistanis who loved their country had tears in their eyes. Some would have made the same excuse \u2014 that something went into their eyes \u2014 to avoid mockery. Others might have refused to let their tears fall, afraid of what people would say. Women can cry freely, but men do not have that liberty.<\/p>\n

Cricket fans can tolerate anything \u2014 but not a loss to India.<\/p>\n

Even while I was in Sri Lanka, I got calls from Pakistan: \u201cWe had such high hopes, but it\u2019s disappointing. You journalists never criticize the PCB. You glorify small things and only put pressure on players.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cMaybe you\u2019re right \u2014 but do you know why?\u201d<\/p>\n

We are such strange people that even when cooking up imaginary dreams, we don\u2019t think about whether they can ever come true.<\/p>\n

This is the same team that lost to India three times in the Asia Cup, that struggled to beat the Netherlands \u2014 and yet we thought the Indian side would just hand us the victory on a plate.<\/p>\n

Before the match, here\u2019s what happened: A former star said, \u201cThis time our team looks strong. We\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another said, \u201cWe\u2019re used to Sri Lankan conditions; the Indians have just arrived, they don\u2019t know the pitches. We\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third said, \u201cOur spinners are outstanding. We\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fourth said, \u201cThat\u2019s how it is \u2014 we\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fifth said, \u201cThat\u2019s the way \u2014 we\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

On TV, the anchor asked me, \u201cSaleem sahib, what do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cthe team looks great. We\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask any other media person \u2014 they said the same thing: We\u2019ll win.<\/p>\n

But in our hearts, we knew \u2014 how could we win?<\/p>\n

We have spinners \u2014 but so do India.<\/p>\n

Our pacers are out of form \u2014 theirs are in form.<\/p>\n

Our batting is struggling \u2014 theirs is crushing every opponent.<\/p>\n

So how were we supposed to win?<\/p>\n

Would we win with Faheem Ashraf\u2019s sixes or Saim Ayub\u2019s no-look shots?<\/p>\n

We have perhaps the strangest team in the world.<\/p>\n

Of our two pacers, one \u2014 Faheem \u2014 is not even trusted by the team management to bowl.<\/p>\n

Yes, he occasionally hits a six or two.<\/p>\n

The other, Shaheen Afridi, has lost form and needs rest.<\/p>\n

Saim is expected to bat aggressively but ends up taking wickets.<\/p>\n

Babar Azam\u2019s era seems over \u2014 how long will we keep playing him in hope of big scores? It would be better if he at least retires from T20s.<\/p>\n

Sahibzada Farhan was expected to perform well but failed.<\/p>\n

Salman Ali Agha, after becoming captain, started asserting authority and, like previous captains, grabbed his preferred batting position \u2014 fine, but then at least make runs!<\/p>\n

Someone said brilliantly about Usman Khan: \u201cHe scored a few runs only because India hadn\u2019t done homework on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a player keeps getting out for zero, why would any opponent fear him?<\/p>\n

He had a great chance to become a hero \u2014 and he blew it.<\/p>\n

Our all-rounders are such that they must feel shy seeing their names next to the term \u201call-rounder.\u201d<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t seem to know whether to bat or bowl \u2014 and some fail at both.<\/p>\n

All-rounders were Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, and Azhar Mahmood \u2014 men who actually won matches for Pakistan.<\/p>\n

In Colombo, even Sri Lankans were supporting Pakistan.<\/p>\n

I spoke in Urdu to a man in a green shirt, but he replied, \u201cI\u2019m Bangladeshi, please speak English; I don\u2019t know much Urdu.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pakistani flag he was waving was bigger than what many of us hoist at home on Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Fans had come from London, Dubai, even America \u2014 but their support did not help.<\/p>\n

The players were so nervous that they could barely bat.<\/p>\n

They should be thankful the team at least reached 100 runs.<\/p>\n

Is Sahibzada lacking talent? Is Saim not capable? Is Babar completely finished? Is Salman useless?<\/p>\n

Not at all. But something happens when they face India \u2014 their hands and feet tremble.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s sports psychologists couldn\u2019t help; perhaps when they return home, he himself will need counseling sessions.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s come to this \u2014 even the U.S. is ahead of us on the points table!<\/p>\n

Yes, I remember \u2014 the U.S. beat us in the last World Cup too.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019ll have to pray to beat Namibia.<\/p>\n

I have to watch social media \u2014 it\u2019s part of my job \u2014 but the Indians have unleashed such a storm of mockery that it\u2019s unbearable.<\/p>\n

Of course, they have the chance \u2014 we keep losing.<\/p>\n

Our army defeated them in war, shot down their Dassault Rafale jets, and our name resounds across the world \u2014 yet in cricket, we achieve nothing.<\/p>\n

If only we could find a strong captain \u2014 fearless, someone who could look any opponent in the eye.<\/p>\n

If only we could find brave players in cricket, like our Air Force pilots \u2014 who can strike and conquer.<\/p>\n

Until that happens, we can do nothing.<\/p>\n

We keep conducting \u201coperations\u201d \u2014 dropping Player A, picking Player B \u2014 and after the next defeat, bringing A back and dropping B.<\/p>\n

Even the fans think the same way: they love whoever is dropped, then demand his comeback, and once he returns, they want him dropped again.<\/p>\n

But tell me honestly \u2014 which Don Bradman, Malcolm Marshall, or Shane Warne do we have sitting out of the squad?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this while sitting on the flight \u2014 the rest, God willing, in the next column.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were tears in his eyes \u2014 this is no exaggeration, there really were tears. At the R. Premadasa Stadium after the match, when I moved forward to console the boy in the green shirt, his friends or cousins \u2014 whoever they were \u2014 reached him before I could. \u201cOh, are you crying? Haha, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}