By Fairplay
May 13 2004

Fairplay's excellent latest article on Shaharyar Khan and his wait and see approach to batting and PCB chairmanship. Well we are all waiting to see what Mr Khan will deliver and the ball is in his court ! Shaharyar Khan and the “Wait and see”


Shaharyar Khan speaks well - befitting a career diplomat.

I recall playing against him in a club match in the early 80's in Pakistan. His kit was all from England, with a magnificent new Gunn & Moore bat, and he batted number 3 chasing our rather large total.

He had very good technique - straight bat, in the V, presenting the full face of the bat. However, he had come in to bat number 3 and his team was chasing a very large total.

Shaharyar made no attempt at playing shots - all deliveries were patted back to the bowler or towards mid off. Half volley, full toss or long hop was played with the same immaculate straight bat right in the V.

The game turned into one of aesthetics. I did not have a bowl but the other bowlers could not get him out - or did not try to. When he was batting it was like he was a Lord and the rest of us were serfs helping the master practice - I remember thinking that if the Tsar had played cricket this is how he would have played it. Or at least how some of my geeky friends batted in their gardens against the bowling of their domestic servants - chowkidars, khansamas etc. Certainly I saw a reflection of myself aged about ten, though my approach was slog rather than block.

At about half way mark, with the run rate having climbed to over 10 an over, I walked up from mid off and spoke to him in English "Sir, I am most impressed by your elegant defensive technique, but surely you have the game to win." Shaharyar was enjoying himself tremendously by now and replied "Wait and see, young man!"

Sadly, his was not an Imran Khan policy of blocking furiously till the last 10 overs followed by furious stroke play. This was furious blocking all the way. Towards the end, with perhaps 3 or 4 overs left, Shaharyar unfolded a couple of classical drives in the V, but struck them straight to the fielders. I don't recall him lasting till the end of the 40th over - perhaps he was run out trying to sneak a single of the last ball to retain the strike, or perhaps he did get dismissed. It was clear to me that he did want to leave an over or two for all those batsman padded up to bat. There had been some muttering back and forth by the time the last 5 overs had arrived.

I was left with two overriding impressions at the time. The first was that while he was batting the game seemed to have transformed into a sort of garden tea party with Shaharyar as the gracious and splendidly attired host. The second was that the rest of us - his team and ours - had taken on the role of bit players, extras in a film if you may, whose presence was needed only as a backdrop to tell the story of the main character. Shaharyar was lucky in that most of the boys playing that day came from educated backgrounds - we all observed the eccentricity of our host, but no one dared interrupt his garden tea party with any crass manners or remarks. I suspect the atmosphere, and his innings, would not have held so long in a normal game with more unruly characters.

So back to the changes Shaharyar promises in the PCB. Will it be a case of "Wait and see, young man!” I admire his phlegmatic ways but the right balance of calm and decisiveness is the need of the hour. I would like to say "Sir, I may wait a while again, but not till the penultimate over!"