Keep Them Coming, Abrar Ahmed

Almost three decades ago, when Aamir Sohail sledged Venkatesh Prasad in a high-stakes World Cup QF, it gave us fodder to diss fans from across the border until eternity. It wasn't just redemption, it was pure entertainment. It was an episode right out of manga.

Let me needlessly go over the proceedings for you. Pakistan were cruising at 114 for one in the 15th over and well on course to chasing down 287. Sohail danced down the track to Prasad, smashing him over the cover boundary for four. The replays showed that after he did that, Sohail, known for his abrasive temperament and frequent quarrels with opposition players, pointed his bat at Prasad menacingly, suggesting that he was going to hit him once more in the same area.

It was set up nicely. Prasad, who was not express, bowled it slightly fuller. Sohail, who was obviously premeditatedly going after it like he had boasted, made room without accounting for the length and promptly lost his sticks. The Chinnaswamy erupted and it was home boy Prasad’s turn to tell Sohail to get lost, which he did quite animatedly.

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Indian fans still relive the skirmish with boundless relish. Multiple versions of the clip are available on YouTube and if you uploaded one now, chances are that you might get a few hundred views, too. Hunter hunted. David and Goliath. The redemption of the underdog. The comeuppance of the hubris-stricken frontrunner. It was peak TV.

Sport is never without drama and it shouldn’t be. In the Sunday Champions Trophy game between India and Pakistan, Abrar Ahmed’s snarky send-off to Shubman Gill caused ripples in the commentary box as well as among fans online. Gill was going great guns, playing some exquisite shots. And he was doing it with authority, driving off the front foot and stepping out to punish the bowlers.

Until Abrar came on. The tall leggie produced a ball that would have had suckers for leg spin curling their toes in ecstasy. Drifting into leg from middle and then turning sharply to dislodge an imperious opening batter’s off stump, the jaffa left Gill all squared up. As the gobsmacked batter—who’s struck a rich vein of form after a horror tour of Australia, left the crease—Ahmed staged a restrained but soapy send-off, crossing his arms high up and smugly smirking in mock condescension.

Pakistan great Wasim Akram, known for his sarcastic barbs and biting critique of the Pakistani cricket setup’s floundering ways, had a particularly unforgiving reaction to Ahmed’s behaviour. It’s mostly likely a combination of Akram’s usual good-natured political correctness and frustration at Pakistan losing after this, but from the outside, it’s unjustified. It’s severely symptomatic of the custodians of the game in South Asia needing courtesy and good manners in cricketers.

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I mean, the bowler dropped a ripper and got his man in the most absolute way you could get someone out. The batter’s scored a century in the previous game and he’s quickly ending the ongoing one. Your premier fast bowlers have been carted around already. But then on come you, and flip the script—isn’t that what gets young people to love sports and express themselves? A bowler having the final say in a game that seems to forever favour batters is an inspiring sight. In the instance we’re on about, it was a battle between two boys—a battle based on sheer merit—and one of them came up trumps. Let him pose a little.

Even with all the rancour and tug-of-war leading up to the hosting of the tournament, India playing all their games in Dubai, the initial doubt over the host nation’s name on the kit we would sport—any moments of Pakistan upstaging the firm favourites in the game would be moments of redemption for them. And then, aren’t spice and histrionics what’s essentially missing in the rivalry that is cricket between India and Pakistan? If not for Virat Kohli’s chasing masterclass, this could have easily topped the list of the blandest games of cricket between the neighbour nations.

If I ever bowled that ball, I’d have the same reaction. So would you—you would be lying if you said you didn’t. Or you simply don’t have it in you to bowl it. Or to even imagine it. Hardik Pandya certainly did wave Babar Azam goodbye on the latter's trudge off to the pavilion earlier in the game.

Please take it easy, Wasim. Keep them coming, Abrar.