Imran Khan was credited by his peers as the only man capable of welding a Pakistan team to play as a unit in the true sense. On Tuesday, fully realising the importance of coming together to urge the Pakistan government to treat their fellow cricketer well in jail, 14 international captains made their request public in an open letter.
All those 14 ex-captains played strokes in their playing days that drew emphatic applause. But this was a masterstroke that attracted kudos from a world audience.
While every one of these greats has demonstrated leadership when it mattered most, here are stories of five in particular. Let’s start with the cricketing senior of them all — Ian Chappell, who first played for Australia in 1964. Chappell, who faced Imran regularly in World Series Cricket, played the captain for life role to perfection through his handling of former teammate Terry Jenner’s predicament in 1992-93.
When a rehabilitated Jenner, after a jail term for embezzlement, showed hesitancy in arriving at the main gate of the Adelaide Oval to be interviewed on how he helped Shane Warne emerge, Chappell promised him that he would be at the main entrance and walk with him to the commentary area, assuring him that there was nothing to be ashamed of.
Clive Lloyd, the second senior among the captains who have shown their solidarity towards Imran, was once upset with the West Indies selectors when they decided to leave trusted wicketkeeper Deryck Murray out of the team for the third Test against Australia in Georgetown in 1978. Lloyd ended the 9 pm to 2 am meeting (as mentioned in his book, Living for Cricket) unable to convince the selectors about retaining Murray by refusing to sign the squad sheet. A few hours later, he resigned as captain. Alvin Kallicharran took over and led the team to India for a six-Test series. India had a new captain in Sunil Gavaskar, among the 14 seeking better treatment for Imran.
Gavaskar’s Mumbai teammate Sudhir Naik was alleged to have stolen two pairs of socks from a department store in London on India’s 1974 tour of England. The late Naik was understandably shattered, also reeling under a lack of support from his Board. Gavaskar in Sunny Days wrote about asking team manager Hemu Adhikari permission to share a room with Naik, who he believed was innocent. Gavaskar said he “intercepted a number of anonymous telephone calls” from “people who were out to give him [Naik] hell.” Naik even contemplated taking his own life and Gavaskar played that perfect protector. He also hit out at the establishment in Sunny Days: “The attitude of those concerned should have been, ‘To hell with the expenses, we’ll go ahead and get our man a good lawyer for his defence.’ ”
This was 1974; world cricket was dominated by Australia. The very next year, Greg Chappell took over the captaincy from his brother Ian, who felt he’d had enough of the job. Greg was a strong-willed captain and, like Ian, fought for his players. When he noticed that the Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch was too dangerous for his players in a 1981-82 triangular series match against the West Indies, he urged the former Australian Cricket Board chief Bob Parish (observer for that game) to call off the game.
Greg (according to the book Greg Chappell by Adrian McGregor) was as livid as he could get when Parish said that 70,000 spectators “will howl the place down” if the match was called off. Greg said to the influential administrator that he would howl the place down if even one of his players got injured.
Allan Border, who was in his fourth season as an Australian player when Greg spoke his mind, was as angry when the selectors, during the Adelaide Test against India in 1991-92, dropped his vice-captain Geoff Marsh and Mark Waugh for the Perth Test. As a mark of protest, Border stayed put in the dressing room and did not take the field for a while, according to cricket writer Mark Ray in the book Border & Beyond. He only did so after dishing out an expletive to coach Bob Simpson and a rocket to chairman of selectors Lawrie Sawle over the phone. He even threatened not to play the Perth Test.
There is little doubt that the rest of the nine international captains (Belinda Clark, Mike Brearley, Kim Hughes, Kapil Dev, David Gower, John Wright, Steve Waugh, Mike Atherton, and Nasser Hussain) also stood up for their teammates at some point or another during their captaincy tenures.
This show of solidarity and concern, whether or not it results in better treatment for Imran in jail, is commendable and worthy of the highest praise. Michael Holding summed it up well when he told me on Tuesday evening: “This is brilliant. I’m so happy to see that. I thought everybody was just going to sit on the sidelines and watch Imran being persecuted and abused.”
mid-day’s Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.