There was a time when Karachi used to produce great cricketers. Some of the greats Karachi has produced are: Wazir Mohammad, Hanif Mohammad, Sadiq Mohammad (Mohammad Brothers), Wasim Bari, Javed Miandad, Mohsan Hassan Khan, Shoaib Mohammad, Iqbal Qasim, Tausif Ahmad and Sarfaraz Ahmad. I think the name of Asif Iqbal too can be added in this category, on the basis of his being Urdu-speaking. That unfortunately has been the criterion of the Karachi media, primarily because of the influence the MQM mindset has exercised on the thinking processes of most Karachi-based cricket analysts and critics.
It is a well-known fact that Zaheer Abbas and Shahid Affridi were products of Karachi but their ethnicity and linguistic identity made them alien.
The Karachi media has not ever concealed its ruthlessness in the way it has judged cricketers of Punjabi-Pakhtoon origins.
The manner in which Akmal brothers have been ‘crucified’ is a living example. It is difficult to establish which cricketers have enjoyed links with the bookies, but in a wider sense, the ‘unwanted’ cricketers have been kept under constant pressure. Umar Akmal’s talent has been recognized internationally, but he has been in and out of the team so many times that he seems to have lost all self-confidence.
Undoubtedly Inzamamul Haque is Chief selector, but didn’t Shahryar Khan the other day said: “I belong to Karachi. My loyalties are with Karachi”.
I am sure Umar Akmal will fight his way back into the team, like his elder brother, but I want to put down the names here of the great cricketers that have been produced outside Karachi.
Imtiaz Ahmad, Maqsood Ahmad, Waqar Hassan, Fazal Mahmood, Khan Mohammad, Mahmood Hussain, Zulfiqar Ahmad, Saeed Ahmad, Javed Burki, Majid Jahangir, Wasim Raja, Intikhab Alam, Abdul Qadir, Ijaz Ahmad, Younus Khan, Salim Malik, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed, Mushtaq Ahmad, Zaheer Abbas, Shahid Afridi, Muddassar Nazar, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Ahmad Shahzad, Mohammad Wasim, Misbahul Haque, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik , Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and…so on….
What I am trying to say is that cricketers of the quality of Umar Akmal, Ahmad Shahzad and Sarfaraz Ahmad should be given an uninterrupted long run.
Our cricket-managers have destroyed many a career through their prejudices and favouritism.
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