Cricket is perhaps the only sport in which a captain does more than just play the game and wear an armband.

Apart from having good playing skills, he also has to demonstrate qualities of a political leader. If he fails, he is unceremoniously removed (or is ‘forced’ to resign). In cricket, it is the captain who draws the most attention because, with the kind of powers invested in him, he is more equal than others. 

The early exit of the Pakistan team from the 2025 Champions Trophy has accelerated the team’s slide in international rankings. Anger among Pakistani cricket fans had been brewing for quite a while. It erupted when the team was thrashed by ‘arch rivals’ India in the Champions Trophy. 

Indeed, the selection of the squad lacked logic and some players did all they could to actually substantiate the critique that they are highly overrated. The team isn’t sure what its purpose really is. A purpose for troubled sides often needs to be given a larger meaning.

Simon Lister, in his book Supercat — a biography of the former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd — quoted Lloyd as saying that, before he was made captain in 1974, the purpose of the West Indian teams was to simply entertain white teams and audiences. There was no urgency to win games.

In the 1970s, the Caribbean island-nations (that play together as the West Indies) witnessed serious political and economic turmoil. Black nationalist movements were also on the rise. In 1976, when the West Indian squad arrived in England for a Test series, the English captain Tony Grieg made a snide remark,........

© Dawn (Magazines)